Rise of the King: Naruto Lucis Caelum
by TheDemonKingNaruto
Summary: "For all my life I've fought and bled in a world cursed by it's own design, actions of outside parties only escalated the inevitable. My world, the Old World, was doomed to die again and again in the name of human ignorance. Fate set my path. Destiny tried to push me down a path of salvation. Yet I chose to instead to rise above the chaos and rule in the Light." Godly Naruto
1. Prologue

**Hello all, TDKN here with a LONG authors note, so prepare yourselves.**

**Now I'm here with a story that may seem familiar to some and probably not to others. You may all be wondering what happened to most of the stories on my profile and I'll just say, I deleted them. I did not like how they were conceived and I despised the way I made them out to be. So, I made a decision, and that was to start over from the very beginning.**

**And by doing this, I decided to heavily revise the first ever stories I made on this site, I'm gonna try to push myself to publish them all before Christmas, but I'll probably be unable to do it in time. Now this was originally named Naruto: The Blade Master Angel, for those of you that wish to know. But like the story, the title has been remade.**

**Now with that said, I do hope you enjoy this.**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII, FFVII: Advent Children or any other anime/game references used in this story.

**Rise of the King: Naruto Lucis Caelum**

**Prologue: One Life Ends, yet another Begins**

In the far reaches of the ruined city of Midgar in the outskirts of Edge there was a cataclysmic battle taking place. A battle that threatened to break the already fragile peace brought upon by the actions of a few. A battle that nearly brought back the nightmare that threatened to swallow the world all those years ago. A battle that was fought with the intent of bringing back the entity of terror itself.

A battle that had come to an end, but at a great cost.

_'Finally...its over...'_ thought Cloud Strife as he surveyed the world, no, his world with a feeling of content even amongst his numerous injuries and current blood loss, and suddenly he felt a sense of relief wash over him from the healing rain of the Lifestream which began to fall from the sky and pelt his skin as it poured onto the Inhabitants of Edge. He had at last finished off Sephiroth once and for all, and was at last free from him, free from the torment of his mind. Nothing could have made him more content than at that moment as he felt the Geostigma within him, like everyone else infected with it, be cleansed from their bodies by the rain.

Yet as this was happening, Yazoo and Loz struggled behind him, and unknown to Cloud they were beginning to charge all their remaining Power for one last desperate attack.

It came too fast for him to shake himself from his state of content...

A loud bang of a firearm sounded off, surprised the former mercenary took a step forward from the sudden impact as the bullet pierced his body, yet he didn't even let it slow him down. Shaking himself from the content he was in, Cloud merely glanced over his shoulder his blue/green eyes narrowing dangerously at the last remaining resistance of this battle. Tsurugi gleaming in hand he spun on his heels, Cloud didn't even register the pain wracking his entire body as he turned around and charged at them as they charged their Maximum power into there last attack. Jumping into the air, Cloud separated one sword from his main weapon and in a dual strike of ferocity and precision he came down with the force of a meteor, and just as they collided an explosion rocked the Tower, the explosion expanded into a giant sphere of mako and fire which consumed much of the battlefield. Yet something unexpected occurred as Yazoo and Loz were literally wiped from existence, and that was the fact that Clouds body started going back to the Life Stream.

This was a natural occurrence for all inhabitants of Gaia; you were born from the lifestream, and so too would you return from whence you came, but this was a difference circumstance for Cloud's death was left in the hands of the Lifestream's will. It did not wish for this fate to be put upon this soul, and thusly it allowed two avatar's, manifestations of their past physical bodies and embodiments of the Lifestreams will, to directly intervene in Cloud's death. A young man named Zack Fair and a beautiful young woman named Aerith Gainsborough, watched Clouds soul in both sadness yet pride, and upon sharing a glance with one another Zack merely smiled before giving a soft nod to her which she returned with one of her own.

Wordlessly coming to agreement, the two raised their hands to the remnants of Cloud's soul and with the will of the Lifestream backing them, they enforced their will upon their old friend with a simple yet friendly push.

_'Go...Live a better Life than this...be happy, Cloud.'_ was Aerith's fleeting thoughts as she vanished into the Lifestream.

_'And keep yourself from dying this time will ya? Maker knows Aerith will be severely angry with you if we have to see you again so soon. Be good now!'_ Zack offered his last words to his wayward protege before he too followed Aerith's example and vanished into the Lifestream.

And with that action made, Cloud's soul departed from the Lifestream and was thrust into a very different world than his own, but was just as connected. Yet the actions of the Lifestream could not be perceived without consequence.

And consequences were indeed to be true with this sole selfish action.

**Konohagakure no Sato-Forests**

Today was a good day to be one, Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage, the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō, and soon-to-be Father.

It was a good day indeed...

Because. while he was quickly losing all feeling in his hand which was squeezed with bone crushing force by his dear beloved wife, Uzumaki Kushina, as she began to give birth to their child, and it was a incredibly difficult task to lend his support to her as he used his other hand to keep her seal in check, keeping the legendary Kyūbi no Yoko within her at bay. Thankfully he had the support of predecessor's wife, Sarutobi Biwako.

Still, while the thought of his wife in so much pain hurt him, yet the excitement of their child soon to be born made him both proud and excited.

_**Crack!**_

_'Oh dear Kami!'_ Minato internally wailed at the pain his wife was unleashing on him. He was sure she fractured or broke a few of his fingers. Still he showed none of this on the outside as he remained focused on the task at hand. He had to endure for Kushina, and for his son. Yet, so focused was he, that neither he nor any of the other occupants never noticed the Ethereal Green Spirit enter Kushina's Womb where her baby boy began to awaken.

It was only when the cries of a newborn baby boy sounded off in the chamber of Kushina's delivery. In the span of a moment the family of three had a single chance of happiness as Minato put their son into Kushina's awaiting arms, and his arm around her as they looked from each other and into the eyes of their newborn son.

''...He's so beautiful, Minato.'' Kushina spoke as she gazed lovingly at their little boy in her arms. Her violet gems twinkled like gems as tear's of pure unadulterated happiness cascaded down her eyes, such was her joy that it could have been felt coming off her in waves. Minato, of course shared her joy as he kissed her head and looked down into the face of their baby boy. While Biwako smiled at the newly family of three with a soft smile of her own.

''That he is, Kushina, that he is.'' Minato uttered to himself, his blue eyes staring down into an equally pair of those very same azure blue eyes. Yet in those round innocent blue orbs he saw the most mystic of glowing green that it was almost majestic in it's appearance. Their baby boy, their little _Naruto_, had a full head of short golden fuzz and a tanned complexion from his father. Yet his round eyes clearly came from his mother.

The little boy looked up at them, through his bleary eyes and gave a mindless gurgle and laugh causing the two parents hearts too swell in joy. This moment, this single moment would be forever immortalized into their souls, until the day they die and even beyond. It seemed like a good day for the family of three...

Until a thump alerted them and Minato's senses went on high alert, and he turned just in time to see his personal guard and Biwako laying dead at the feet on a cloaked man with a orange mask.

"Biwako-Obaa-sama!" Kushina cried out while Minato stood before his wife and child protectively as his icy blue eyes narrowed on the intruder.

''Greeting, Yondaime Hokage, a wonderful night is it not?'' spoke the stranger and Minato knew, at that moment that today, this miraculous day of joy and happiness.

Was about to take a sudden turn for the worst...

Unfortunately for him and Kushina, neither of the two would truly know how bad it was about to turn, especially for their newborn child.

**Konohagakure-Hospital**

In the darkness of the Konoha Hospital, lit only by the flickering overhead lights, the Nursery was filled with a good solid number of newborns. Nurse's working night shift came up and did routine check ups for all the newborns, making sure they were healthy and okay before moving on. This was the case as the last nurse went over the last newborns for the usual check up before she left the Nursery.

And as the door closed behind her, the shadow's of the four corners seemed to twitch before four bodies dropped from the shadowed corners. Each wearing an animal mask and the standard Anbu uniform, but a clean cut to their throat silenced them quick and clean. Landing at their bodies in a quiet crouch, the four cloaked shinobi bowed their heads in obedience as a fifth figure walked out from the dark reaches of the Nursery.

It was an older man, crippled and heavily scarred from his current appearance. Walking in with a cane in hand his lone beady eye stared amongst the newborns with a calculative and indifferent expression. Until a certain glint passed his eye as he made his way toward the target of his interest.

''Get rid of the bodies...'' in a silent gesture they did as commanded and went to collectively taking the bodies, removing any evidence of them every being there, before vanishing in a swirl of smoke and leafs. As they left in their master's wake, the bandaged man soon came up to a lone cradle in the far corner of the Nursery and upon seeing the name of the babe, he stopped just at the side of it.

Looking down, Shimura Danzo's lone eye narrowed as his face crinkled into a frown. ''Hiruzen may have forbid me from taking you, but that does not mean I cannot insure Konoha's safety for the future.'' he said, staring down at the sleeping newborn boy known as, Uzumaki Naruto. Digging into one of his pockets he pulled out a single paper tag with multiple written Kanji written upon it. Channeling chakra into the paper tag he gently laid it across the newborn boy's abdomen causing the boy's own seal to respond.

Putting his hand up he uttered only one word. ''Seal.'''

And in a small display of chakra infusion, Danzo watched as the kanji upon his paper tag melded off the fabric and into the boy's flesh. Bypassing the original seal placed upon him and hidden deep upon the layer's of the Shiki Fujin. Soon enough, the kanji for his seal was completely unnoticeable to all, but the most trained eye in the art of Fuinjutsu.

''And with this, Konoha's future is assured.'' without sparing a glance he turned away, never noticing the fact the boy's eyes opened marginally to stare straight at his fleeting back. The newborn boy's eyes were a distinctive shade of azure with a greenish glow, but that green majestic glow began to disappear from his pupils until it was no longer existent, and without another word the young boy fell back to the realm of lullabies.

**14 Year Later-Forest of Death**

Within the Forest of Death, we could find 4 figures in the area, which one of them was trembling in fear as she watched one of her teammates steep himself in trouble. She had long pink hair and worried seagreen eyes, which stared up in fright for the opponent her team was combating and she began to fear for her teammates. She was wearing a Red Qipao dress that had white designs, she also had black biker shorts underneath while wearing normal blue shinobi sandals with a Konoha forehead protector. This young girl was Haruno Sakura of Team 7, under the Jonin leadership of Hatake kakashi.

Another one was a Boy that had the pitch black hair that stood up in the form similar to a duck's rear end. He had pale skin with coal black eyes that were currently staring at his comrade and best friend, although he would never admit it to anyone, in a fear that made his entire body tremble. He had the usual blue Uchiha high-collarded shirt with white shorts he had bandages wrapped around his legs with blue Shinobi sandals as well, lastly he had a Konoha forehead protector as well. This boy's name was Uchiha Sasuke of the prestigious Uchiha Clan he was of the 3 of the last remaining Uchiha's alive, him being one, his traitorous brother being the second and his beloved mother being the last.

The cause of this? It was because his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, on one night butchered the whole clan leaving him and his mother alive. He never knew the whole reasons as to why he did it, but in the end he ultimately decided he would avenge his clan by killing his brother. A decision that always worried his mother, but the damage dealt by Itachi on that night was far too severe for even her to handle alone.

But right now, that was the farthest thing from Sasuke's mind as he was stuck in a literal state of both terror, shock and confusion as he watched his teammate fight off their opponent. A Kusa Kunoichi that had earlier crippled him and Sakura with a saturated feeling of killing intent. So intense it was, it made Zabuza's in the past pale in comparison. It was a suffocating feeling that made what little common-sense Sasuke had go out the window. At that moment in time he wanted nothing more than to die, throw himself into a hole, curl up like a worm and die just to end the madness. Yet when he was able to come back to his senses and try to flee the kunoichi he was unable to break free of the kunoichi's sight.

Yet in the last moment of what seemed to be his last fleeting moments of life, Sasuke saw something truly unprecedented and shocking. It lit a fire in him to see it really, to see his blonde idiot of a teammate show up in the nick of time, and even more amazingly the blonde was seemingly _ignoring_ the killing intent coming off this kunoichi in waves and just start pummeling her giant Snake summon into the earth below them.

It was devastating yet awe inspiring to the Uchiha, in a moment of sheer guts, anger and resolve his teammate, the _dobe_ had come up and pummeled the giant snake with his _fists_ before going after it's master. He was like a blur of yellow and orange to his eyes, moving far faster than he had ever seen him move before. Just watching what he did, made Sasuke feel a number of emotions most of which were similar to respect, jealousy and a bit of fear for the blond.

But the most confusing emotion was _admiration._

_'What the hell...Naruto?'_ Sasuke thought as he looked on, watching the boy take on the Kusa Kunoichi with little to no restraint.

Sakura and Sasuke's teammate of Team 7, was a young man with a full mop of golden spiky locks which fell past his ears and his bangs nearly covering his Konoha headband. He had a tanned complexion with 6 whisker marks marring his cheeks. The young man wore a orange track suit with blue shinobi sandals and a crimson swirl etched into the back of his suit. but his clothing was less than satisfactory due to it being in tatter's, burned, or torn in other area's. However the most unique part of the boy besides his whisker marks, were the eyes he held. Glowing scarlet slitted orbs narrowed dangerously upon the kunoichi with an anger that would have made any lesser of a being fall to their knee's. The blood that dribbled down his head and around his eyes only increased the fearsome expression the young blond wore.

**''I'm going to kill you, teme!''** the blond spoke in a voice that was his own, yet wasn't at the same time. It was both deep and rough, yet it carried something deeper. More...sinister?

Now this was Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yoko and right now he was fighting against this Kusa Kunoichi with all he had. His whole body was shaking with exhaustion, his body was a mess and his vision was blury, but he simply refused to fall down. He'd finally pulled himself out of one giant snake's stomach only to come and find out this...this..._teme_ was hurting his teammates.

That was a line never to be crossed.

_Ever._

His crimson orbs narrowed dangerously as the kunoichi on the other hand simply smirked with an equal amount of interest and curiosity. Her beady black orbs seemed to stare into those eyes of Naruto's without hesitation; if anything she felt an old thrill of excitement go down her body as she saw the anger in his eyes flare up.

_'Originally, I wanted this little brat out of my way, but there's something off about him and it's not the fox's power either.'_ thought the kunoichi as she took notice of a slight flickering of a familiar chakra source coming off the boy, and it was only then did she let loose a cruel smile, a smile fitting for one as cruel, twisted and demented as _she._

_'Oho? So that's it then, very clever Danzo, but you were never one to utilize Fuinjutsu correctly. Your seals have always been crude, barbaric, outdated even, but I am surprised sensei never noticed it until now.'_ the kunoichi thought before returning her glance to blond before her. In the span of seconds, multiple thoughts and scenario's began to run through her or rather _his_ mind until he ultimately came to a rather devious plan.

_'Danzo's seal can be taken away unleashing whatever he wanted locked away, but judging from the ferocity I just faced earlier...why should I stop there?'_ thought the Snake in hiding. It's current vessel's beady eyes seemed to shift into those akin to a snake, amber obs with slitted pupils. Deciding to further test the boy he spoke.

''Oh?~ Are you angry? Do you hate me? You do know, if you don't kill me, I will make you watch as I kill your two little friends below us, slowly and _painfully.'_' she taunted, jeering the boy with a motion of her/his hand. Naruto merely snarled, baring his overly large fangs in response, if it was possible his crimson orbs seemed to glow even more with sinister primal ferocity.

**''I...won't let you!''** and in a burst of speed Naruto vanished from his spot in a burst of speed. The tree he was on suddenly exploded from the sheer force of his jump, but he didn't seem to care at that moment. All he cared about was wiping that smug smirk of this teme's face! To the naked and untrained eye, Naruto just vanished, but to his opponent Naruto was still moderately coming at him speeds akin to a Jonin.

Easily he dodged his wild strike, and he watched with intrigue as his strike leveled tree's for a good distance, but the boy burst out from the smoke, faster than he was before. It was really impressive considering the boy's current situation. If what he sensed was accurate, than the boy was going beyond the limitations placed upon him.

_'But still not fast enough.'_ he thought idly as he easily dodged Naruto's furious strikes, punches and wild kicks. From just observing the boy's lack of style he could already tell the boy utilized a brawler sort of fighting style. No doubt because he was never taught an initial fighting stance, one among the many intentional flaws made in his academic history, but the boy made up for it with his unpredictability.

But that wouldn't amount to much with the threats the boy would face in the future.

Dodge, weave, block, grab and throw, dodge, weave, block, duck, counter. It was becoming more akin to a dance of destruction at this point as the further Naruto attacked the more ferocious he became. His speed increased, his strength grew and with each missing attack he carved up the forest, each blocked fist or kick sent shockwaves all cross the forest. Shattering tree branches and causing the ground to crater with clash.

The boy's two teammates could no longer see the battle happening before them. It was no longer a battle they could perceive, not even with the famed Uchiha Sharingan eye. It was no longer a battle between Chunin hopefuls. This was a battle of something...else.

_'Naruto...what's happening to you...'_ Sasuke thought in...worry. Yes, he would admit it to himself, in the solace of his own mind. He was worried for his teammate because Naruto was clearly not acting like his old self. This wasn't the happy-go lucky blond he knew, the stubborn hot head that didn't know when to back down. This wasn't the boy he knew from the academy when they were children.

This wasn't the Naruto he knew...

Than he heard a crash, and next came a yell that honestly sent a chill down the Uchiha's spine.

**''STOP RUNNING!''** with a snarl the blonde dug his heel into the ground and vanished far faster than his opponent originally expected. And that moment of surprise cost him as the air was ripped out of him as Naruto's fist sunk into his chest. The punch was sound powerful that it reached further, passing his ribcage and stretching out his back. Continuing on with his attack he grabbed the woman's head and slammed nailed her face into his knee. Grabbing her by the hair he continued by repeatedly slamming her face into the ground.

Still the grin on the kunoichi's face was that spoke of euphoria, as if she or he had finally found a prospect worthy of his attention. _'This boy...interests me so much! There is no denying it now, he's the one I need the most!'_ his thoughts couldn't be swayed even as Naruto continued to bash his head into the ground without a shred of mercy.

**''NEVER. THREATEN. TO. HURT. MY. FRIENDS. AGAIN! AAAHHHHH!'' **with each slam the ground cratered further and further and with one wildly charged chakra enhanced slam he buried the kunoichi into the ground as the ground cracked and upheaved. The entire Forest of Death quaked as Naruto slammed his opponent so hard into the ground that half of her body was deeply embedded into the earth while the other half was laying limp. Snarling at the limp body, Naruto remained where he was, glaring at the supposed corpse of his opponent. Wary and suspicion was clear as day in his ruby red slited eyes.

But his ear's perked when he heard light footsteps coming toward and he spun on his heel, claws out and fangs bared.

….Only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw a pair of coal black orbs staring back at him. It that moment Naruto realized he was staring at his rival, but as he looked at the Uchiha he began to take notice of something..._odd_ about him. Maybe it was the sub-conscious of his brain telling him this or something else, but it was like he was looking at Sasuke for the first time.

Something was off with the teme...

''Dobe...calm down...she's dead...we're safe...just calm down, okay?'' Sasuke asked for Naruto who could only stared into the Uchiha's coal orbs with his ruby red eyes. Taking in the Uchiha's overall appearance with a tilt of his head, and it was only then, Naruto's eyes narrowed in what seemed to be confusion.

**''...T-teme?...You...somethings different about you.''** Naruto commented in his rough tone of voice, but the Uchiha's eyes widened only marginally, but it was enough for Naruto too see. Yet before he could continue, the both felt the ground beneath them vibrate. Naruto's eyes widened, yet he couldn't react fast enough.

Shooting up from the ground from behind him, a ghostly pale man with long black hair stretched out his neck, and with lightning fast speed he struck sinking his fangs into Naruto's collarbone. Channeling his chakra and a bit of his soul into the boy's own he took a moment of relish in satisfactory as he saw his own experimental Cursed Seal of Hell easily form around the bite mark. He easily noticed Naruto beginning to weaken from the sudden intrusion of his soul and his own vile chakra and he took a moment to glance at the shell-shocked Uchiha as Orochimaru, of the Legendary Sannin spoke the Uzumaki.

''Very clever of you to notice, Naruto-kun~ I do believe you're the first besides Sasuke's kaa-san to notice _his_ little situation. But that's the least of your worries right now.'' he said with a hiss before he struck Sasuke with the same mark. And for Naruto, that sight alone was _seared_ into his brain. The screams of pain that came from Sasuke tore at him more than he would have ever imagined.

_'Dammit...what is this...?'_ the blond thought as the crimson bled away from his eyes as his body began to weaken more and more until he could no longer support himself. Falling flat on his back he could only stare up into tree branches. His body began to convulse, painfully, but he could only let out grunts or racking coughs. But through the dimming of his vision, Naruto saw the man, his opponent come toward him.

And he only heard him say one thing before he saw darkness.

''Now let's get rid of this nasty little seal on you, hm?'' spoke Orochimaru as he went to work getting of the archaic seal placed upon the Uzumaki. The Uchiha behind him was already convulsing, in the same situation as the blond. Originally, Orochimaru never planned to utilize the Seal he gave the blond, let alone marking the Uzumaki in the first place. Yet something about him intrigued him to go ahead and do it anyway.

Still, as he ripped away the last bit of Danzo's seal from the boy's original seal, Orochimaru bore witness to one change just before he was forced to leave the area. And it was something that truly made his eyes twinkle in deep interest. For the boy's dull blue eyes sparked to life, generating a glow of majestic green. Royal, divine, mystical, but that was all Orochimaru was able to see before the boy's eyelids fell.

Sighing Orochimaru shook his head, _'_'Oh well, I'll just wait to see what more you can show me, Naruto-kun. Survive, and Endure. If you are anything like your Nindo, then survive until the next time we meet.'' and with a fleeting glance at the Uchiha, Orochimaru vanished in a swirl of leafs leaving a broken Team 7 in his wake.

Unknown to him however, this single act of interest and curiosity would fundamentally change the world.

**Naruto's Mindscape**

Within the depths of Uzumaki Naruto's mindscape, the sewer like system that it was. The ankle-high water suddenly rippled as a long and strong rumble ripped across the very depths of his mind, but what followed was something that was out of this world. For bright green liquid suddenly flooded the tunnels and pipes of Naruto's chakra network. It was a fast, unstoppable current that would not be stopped. It ripped across the mindscape, cleansing the impurities it came in contact with, and in result what was left was only strengthened and augmented by the green liquid.

The flood of liquid soon came upon the cage sheltering the bijuu of legend, the Kyūbi no Yoko. One of it's eyes opened lazily only to widen in surprise as the strange liquid came toward him. Feeling such surprise and confusion for the first time in it's long life span, the bijuu reacted in the only manner in could.

**''What in the Sages name is this?!''** the great fox roared in defiance of the otherworldly energy, but it didn't seem to deter it's path in the slightest, and the bijuu could do nothing as the energy easily bypassed it's cage and began to fill up the Kyuubi's cage. The effect the liquid on the Kyuubi was instant as it's liquid form exploded into particles of emerald which soon began to swallow up to the great bijuu. The great fox struggled against the strange unique energy, but it was to no avail as it found itself consumed by the energy.

And with that, darkness followed...

….Yet in that darkness...

Uzumaki Naruto awoke to find himself floating upon a sea of emerald. Fireflies lit up the darkness that surrounded him, and in that situation he couldn't find himself questioning why or where he was. He just felt a sense of _content_ of where he was. As if he belonged here, for one reason or another.

_'This place...feels familiar to me...'_ thought the young blonde and it was only then did he let loose a frown as a small trickle of annoyance began to flow through the back of his skull. ''W-what is...this?!'' his hands went to scratch at his skull, and that single movement of erratic behavior caused him to sink like an anchor into the ocean of emerald. Yet he paid no mind as he sunk, his finger nails merely dug into his scalp as memories of a life that was not his flooded his brain.

It came to him in a hurricane of memories and images, and the pain that followed made him scream, but all that came out was bubbles. He grit his teeth in pain he saw it...he saw _everything_... from his past life of Cloud Strife. How his life went from his childhood with his best friend Tifa Lockheart and through his adventure in Midgar meeting Zack Fair, becoming a Shinra Security Officer to a SOLDIER, to eventually a mercenary for hire.

He saw everything to when Zack died, dying to protect him from Shinra's main force, to when he helped his friends on the planet called 'Gaia'. How he faced Sephiroth at the time of his resurrection, defeating the last remnants of his will...that is until the Explosion...

His eyes snapped wide open at this as he sunk deeper and deeper until he eventually hit the bottom. Yet his eyes became glassy as he tried to recollect on the memories granted to him. The strangeness of the events was just as confusing as his current situation.

_'Ok, my name is...Uzumaki Naruto...I-I was Cloud Strife from a Planet Called Gaia. I was a mercenary that helped take down Shinra, I had friends who I fought beside to take down a Man who called himself Sephiroth. After two year's Remnants of Sephiroth came back with the intention of reuniting wth Jenova and bringing Sephiroth back from the Lifestream. Everyone fought them until I had met them at a stand-off at the outskirts of Edge. There I fought Kadaj who released the Materia that which brought back Sephiroth once more into the world._

_We fought until I landed the finishing strike on him after that he transformed back into Kadaj and he went back to the lifestream while Aerith left a Healing rain to cure the Geostigma within Midgar and Edge. After this I was shot by the last remaining remnants and then I charged Yazoo and Loz which ended up in that explosion..._

_After that I...I...'_ he was knocked out of his thoughts when he heard a voice echo with the depths of the mako sea...it sounded like...Aerith!

_'A-Aerith..is that you? Where are you?!'_ mentally calling out to her.

_'Don't worry Cloud...me, Zack and The Ancient's decided you were to be given a new life, one where you could be reborn to help this world like you did for Gaia.' _said Aerith which Cloud frowned at as he looked around to try and find Aerith amongst the ocean of mako.

_'I...was reborn?' _

_'Yes you were, for you see we decided you were to be given this chance' _she said causing Cloud/Naruto's frown too deepen at this bit of information. It was just so much to take in at once, but the thought of his friends and comrades made him stand up at attention.

_'What about the others? All I remember is the explosion then here.' _he said

_'They still live on Gaia peacefully after what you did.' _she said causing the Ex-Soldier to smile a little knowing that what he had done wasn't a waste.

Yet one questioned plagued him...

_'Why is this only happening now, why did it take so long?'_ he asked and he could feel her...displeasure in a sense.

_'The process was started when Uzumaki Naruto was brought into this world,yet an old man did something to you and it had a delay effect on the emergence between you and the Naruto of this world.'_ THAT made his frown turn into a deep scowl but as hard he tried he couldn't dig up any memory of that happening. Than again his mind was probably a jumbled mess so it would take time to organize his memories.

_'I see...'_ one thing was for certain, he _will_ find the one who did it to him.

_'Now Cloud...I-' _the woman was cut of as Cloud interrupted her with his own thoughts.

_'Naruto...I am...no longer Cloud Strife, I am just...Uzumaki Naruto, Aerith.'_ he said, wanting to get that across. He may have been Cloud Strife in one point in his life, but here and now he was just Uzumaki Naruto. He could feel Aerith's surprise that is until her warmth enveloped him.

_'Yes...that's right...Naruto, that is who you are now. You are Naruto and Naruto is you, one in the same. Bound forever as one, something that will never change...until I can welcome you back with open arms.'_

_'Yes...until then Aerith...take care...'_ and upon this farewell Naruto closed his eyes and smiled causing the mako sea around him to explode in a show of green glowing particles. All around the depths of his mindscape the liquid turned into particles that seemed into the pipes of his chakra network.

And in the darkness once again, Naruto reopened his eyes revealing a pair of sharp blue eyes glowing a deep mystical green hue that pierced the veil of ebony around him.

''Now...I need to protect Sasuke and Sakura, and escape this damned forest.'' and with that single thought Naruto slowly dematerialized as well.

* * *

**And that ends this revamp, originally this prologue was 20 pages, but with the amount of corrections and revamping I'm doing I felt this was the best time to cut it off cause a lot of work is still needing to be done to the next half of just the prologue alone. It's crazy I was able to make so many pages of work, yet have so many mistakes.**

**Again this is a remake of the original story so it's not going to go down like it did in the past.**

**That said, I hope you enjoyed this and if you have criticisms to offer it would be dearly appreciated.**

**Now have a great holiday!**

**TDKN**


	2. Premature Awakening

**I apologize for the late update, I've been underestimating how much of my old work needs to be remade. Besides the cringe worthy mistakes, the general way I wrote my stories back then was just appalling. Literally, I was stuck in my chair gaping like a fish for a good few minutes just from reading it. The sheer amount of crap is staggering, I've needed to delete half of the work I've done during this revamp and just go on with my own ideas while using the original idea as a basis.**

**Nevertheless, I'm comfortable with how the remake it's undergoing, so here's the second chapter****.**

**By the way, I did some touch up work with the previous chapter filling in places with information that I accidentally skimmed over.**

**Now Enjoy!**

* * *

"_Chakra and Nature energy are two entirely different types of energy. One is the combination of spiritual and physical energy. And the other is the natural energy of our very planet. However...when you add a foreign energy into the mix...something is bound to happen, and whether that's good or bad, I cannot say." **~Jiraiya of the Sannin**_

**Rise of the King: Naruto Lucis Caelum**

**Chapter 1: Premature Awakening**

Haruno Sakura was worried, no scratch that, she was beyond the point of worry. To say she was concerned would be an understatement of her short 13 year's of living. In all her life, Sakura had never felt so much fear as she did now in at this very moment, and it all started with the Chunin exam, it had been an entire mess the moment it began. The Written exam alone was a harsh test alone, a test that stood as a testament to the Shinobi way of subterfuge and espionage.

Then came the second part of the exam, a survival mission, to step into the Forest of Death and claim both a Heaven and Earth scroll before reaching the central tower within a time frame of 5 days without any outside help. There was no sensei to back them up and so they were left to fend for themselves and survive on their own skills. It was a battle, but one they had truly never expected to face. They had underestimated the amount of skill these other shinobi had and for that they paid the consequence of being attacked by _her._

Sakura trembled from just thinking about that Kusa Kunoichi, the encounter with the woman had been an experience she would never forget. To see just how outclassed they were by her, how she systematically destroyed both her and Sasuke down with just a simple enforcement of killing intent. It was nothing like their encounter with Zabuza Momochi on their first C turned A-rank mission, the killing intent was dense, suffocating, she had seen herself die multiple times in all types of different scenarios, all of which made her feel like nothing but a bug to that kunoichi, but their salvation came in the most unexpected way, her third teammate, Uzumaki Naruto, arrived on the scene.

His arrival saved her and Sasuke from the Kunoichi, but that thought was dashed when she saw how different her blond teammate was acting. It may have been a situation that held their life's hanging by a thread, but something about her teammate was different. He wasn't acting like himself at all, coming down with merciless brutality with each attack. Attacking like an animal than a man had been one of the key points she noticed before the battle between Naruto and the Kunoichi reached all new heights.

His screams of rage still echoed in her ears as he decimated the forest around them, chasing down the kunoichi like she was his prey. Yet the anger, the rage Naruto gave off was undeniable at that moment in time, in all her life she had never seen Naruto so...so _angry_ then at that moment in time. Had he been so angry because she and Sasuke were in danger? Furious because they were hurt? Did Naruto think so much of them, of her and Sasuke as teammates, as friends, that he would go out of his way and fight like that?

It was terrifying yet admirable all the same.

_'And thinking back on all the times I've hit him and treated him like crap, and yet he was so worried about us that he became like...that.'_ thinking of such things Sakura shook her head. After the battle, she only remembered hearing Sasuke's scream of pain before running toward his location. Only to find both him and Naruto laying on the ground, both convulsing and sweating profusely.

Upon finding her teammates in that condition she took it upon herself to hide them from any potential prying eyes. Utilizing every basic survival skill she learned from the Academy to try and heal her two downed teammates. She'd taken refuge by a hollowed tree by a nearby riverside, and was currently trying to bring down her teammates fever's down. As a precaution she laid out traps around the perimeter, but her skill in traps were nowhere near Narutos. The blond had given her tips and from what she saw of his traps were enough to advance her own. She just hoped it was enough to ward off any potential attacks.

Kneeling at their side she had their heads propped up by bundled up leafs she could scavenge, but the two were literally pouring sweat and were showing terrible reactions to whatever it is the kunoichi had done to the two of them. At first she looked down at Sasuke, his face was just stuck in a pain filled expression. Jaw locking up and teeth clenched, short and rapid breaths escaped him. His hair, strangely was becoming less of it's original style as sweat poured from him. It was becoming loose and more straight, it was surprising to her as she originally believed his hair was that naturally that way.

Soaking his rag Sakura squeezed any excess water out before folding it before placing it over Sasuke's forehead, but there was one thing Sakura noticed about Sasuke and it was where she figured the pain was coming from. Her worried eyes glanced down at his collarbone to see a black mark, being the shape of three tomoe.

_'What is that...What did she do to you, Sasuke-kun?'_ Sakura thought before she crawled over to her other teammate, and his current state was nearly similar to Sasuke except for a few key differences. He was soaked in sweat, his spiky gold locks were matted down and his face was permanently stuck in an expression of pain. However his whole body was still carrying a good amount of wounds. She dressed as much as of his wounds as she could, but to her amazement early on she watched as his body began to naturally heal from his wounds.

From her understanding of the human anatomy, human bodies naturally heal overtime, but the process in which she saw from Naruto wasn't normal. His healing was abnormally high, kind of like a regenerative process in a sense. At first she thought it was somekind of Kekkai Genkai and it was a plausible theory, but not one she felt would explain it entirely. However, this wasn't all she was noticing from Naruto. For she had also found a mark on his collarbone just like on Sasuke, but instead of them being three tomoe she found it to be three shapes that resembled something akin to a strange wing of sorts. It was an odd pattern, but if that wasn't enough the outline of the mark was glowing a light green.

Least to say Sakura was very worried, Naruto may have been an annoying idiot, but he was still her teammate and had been nothing, but friendly to her. No matter how badly she treated him he was still there to offer any kind of help he could. To see him in pain, to see them both in pain like this and without being able to do anything to ease that pain ultimately made her feel pretty useless.

''But I can at least protect you two, ever since we became a team I've had to look at your backs, keeping me from harm, but this time I won't let any harm come to any of you.'' her eyes narrowed, her green orbs gleaming with that determination.

_'This I promise...'_ was her unspoken promise to her two teammates.

_Cling!_

The sudden ring of a bell made her perk up, and without a sound she pulled out a kunai from her pouch and turned around. Ready and willing to protect her teammates without hesitation, just as they had for her so too will she. Any thought of fleeing was absent from her mind, the mere thought of such a thing was nonexistent to her at this point.

She kept quiet, watching the area around her for any sign of movement and only when she heard a rustle did she act.

_Clang!_

Effectively blocking hurled kunai and shuriken Sakura was caught by surprise when coming from the bushes was a squad of three, and from their headbands she realized that it was the Otogakure Genin from the Written Exam. The leader, she supposed, was the mummified boy with the metallic arm.

''Good reflexes, girl, now why don't you step aside?'' the boy spoke and Sakura merely kept her narrowed gaze on the three.

''And why should I?'' replying was all she said. Fear was beginning to settle in, but just remembering why she was doing this, to protect her teammates was all she needed to crush that fear.

The boy in question merely stared at her with his lone eye.

''We are here for no other reason then to kill the Uchiha, _little girl_, but seeing as you won't abide by my first and only warning, you will die as well.'' that all he said before the boy beside him burst into action and all Sakura could do was prepare herself. To endure and protect her the two behind her.

_'Sasuke-kun...Naruto, I will keep you both safe!'_

But just as the battle began, no one saw what was happening to the two inside the Hollow tree. The fact that Sasuke's body was glowing in vile purple chakra, that his eyes were flickering and twitching. Or the other fact that his body was beginning to _change._

Nor of the fact that Naruto's mark was beginning to be overcome with the green energy from before. Only now it was entirely beginning to consume his whole body. It would only be later until anyone realized that Naruto's body was engulfed in a blazing aura of cyan blue.

**OwO**

Anko Mitarashi was, in her own words, a bonafide badass kicking kunochi, a Konoha Tokubetsu-Jonin to be exact and Lead assistant in the Torture and Interrogation Unit. She was a woman that none of her peers wanted to ever fight unless they had no other choice because of the sole fact that...

_She was fucking insane!_

Ok, insane was a strong word, she was just a tad bloodthirsty, but she could be over the top in many aspects and it was because of that alone many were afraid to fight her. Because she could be unpredictable, and fighting an unpredictable opponent that was able to utilize deathly poisonous snakes at her beck and call was a _dangerous_ opponent. That wasn't even accounting for her skill in traps, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu.

Honestly, she could have made Jonin by this point if it weren't for the fact that she was denied the chance every time the exams came up. The Hokage's Council, the two _old bag of bones that they were,_ were still suspicious of former student-teacher relationship with Konoha's number one traitor, and the only one who was crazy enough to fight her.

_Orochimaru of the Sannin_.

Who she was currently fighting and losing, _badly._

''Gah!'' the woman spat up blood as she sent hurling backward until she slammed into a tree with enough force to cause entire tree to shake, but before she could even make another move, multiple snakes wrapped around her, keeping her entirely restrained.

''Dammit!'' letting out a curse, she let her narrowed hate filled gaze snap in the direction of her opponent, Orochimaru in all his traitorous glory walking toward her with that _damnable smug smirk _of his! The way the battle had ended, even after all her training, she still amount little to the man himself. At first when she tracked him down and began to battle, the woman thought she caught him by surprise, but that thought was quickly erased when it was revealed that he was merely playing with her.

Then it was just a matter of him thrashing her, no matter what she did from that point on did nothing to him. He was able to repel her attacks with his own, counter her jutsu's with simple, but effective elemental earth clones. Bypassing her traps with as much ease as it would be strolling through a park.

It was a humbling experience to be sure, but then maybe she _was_ a bit insane to think she could fight someone only another Sannin or the Hokage could fight.

''Oh Anko-chan, while I did find our little game to be amusing, I must say I'm disappointed that this was all you could do.'' she heard the snake speak and his words merely works to anger her even further. _To hell with his disappointment!_ She wasn't his student anymore! The only thing wanted more was to have his decapitated head on the Hokage's desk, but that seemed to be far from possible with her current situation.

Instead she spat out with all the hate she could muster, ''What the hell are you doing here, Orochimaru?'' it was truly impressive how much hate she held for this man. Then again because of him her life went to shit the moment he turned traitor. It was because of this snake her life became second to Konoha's Jinchurriki in terms of being an sheer outcast.

But the Sannin's smirk merely widened as he crouched down to her, bile rose in her throat when he took hold of her chin causing her to look straight into his snake-like eyes. ''Oh, I'm just here to see how the next generation will amount to. Seeing as your generation has mostly disappointed me, I wished to test the mettle of a few, and I was not disappointed.'' he replied in kind and his words had the effect of throwing her for a loop.

She blinked for a moment until she came to a conclusion of what he could have meant, ''You came here for the Uchiha, didn't you?'' she asked, there was no other reason he would have come here then for the famed bloodline of the Sharingan eye. It was no secret the man had a desire to obtain all the Jutsu in the world, and with the help of the Sharingan he could do just that. It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility if one had that dojutsu, for beyond it's other freaky abilities it was able to copy almost any jutsu in the known world, besides other Kekkai Genkai abilities of course.

The Great Snake merely chuckled at his former student's rather astute answer. She was able to figure that out well enough, and she would have been right if Orochimaru hadn't been caught in mid-fight with the Uzumaki. _That_ encounter was still fresh in his mind, and just thinking about it sent a shiver of excitement down his spine. While there was no denying he wanted the Sharingan to fulfill his ultimate desire, he found himself becoming extremely interested in the Uzumaki's development as a whole. He knew the boy's lineage, being one of the last from the infamous Uzumaki Clan and he also knew the boy's parents had been incredibly instrumental in the Third Shinobi World War, that he would never deny. His parents had potential, immense potential that out shined everyone in their generation, his father was a shinobi genius the likes of which hadn't been seen since Hatake Sakumo. His mother was a brilliant woman, an exemplar of what it meant to be a true Kunoichi, the woman became world renowned for her art in the fabled Fuinjutsu, an art rare few outside the Uzumaki clan dabbled in due to the danger's and complexity of the skill. But in her hands, that alone made her a force to be feared and respected on the battlefield, and that wasn't even considering her art in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu.

He respected power above all else, and recognizing potential was something he was able to gain in equal force.

And when he fought the Uzumaki, he sensed it. Although he was under the influence of his bijuu's chakra, he was still able to retain his senses and fully utilize the power the Kyuubi granted him.

But it was not that which intrigued Orochimaru so much...

It was the boy's _potential_, that first encounter alone told the Sannin much and it was enough for him to take the risk of marking him with his latest experimental Juinjutsu, the _Naraku no Juin_. It was one he was actually afraid to use on any subject because the amount of toll was far too potent for any human body to handle. Even those with extremely strong bodies succumbed to the curse of the seal and were killed from it's effects in seconds

But he had a feeling the boy would survive and endure, he wasn't a man that followed his gut as much as his former teammate Jiraiya did. But this boy made him want to do just that, just to see what would come about. Initially, he didn't think much of the boy, seeing him as a failure, but that fight alone showed him that the boy merely lacked a real teacher. Because as they fought the boy was picking up on his blocks, counters and speed frighteningly quick. He was starting to read him, his movements with a perception that some would think he had the Sharingan when he clearly didn't. Instinct brimmed off the boy in waves, and in the Shinobi world, instinct was what kept you alive and made you stronger.

And that wasn't even considering the fact Danzo had placed a limiter seal on the boy, effectively crippling him in more way than one. But now that it was off...

Orochimaru _shivered._

Glancing at Anko, Orochimaru decided to tease his wayward student, ''In manner of speaking yes I did, but I never did get to enjoy myself with the Uchiha. But I do believe I found a much more intriguing target, a certain _Fox boy?_'' he hissed and it took him some restraint to hold back a chuckle when he saw her eyes widen in horrific realization.

Which quickly narrowed in a hatred so fierce, it made what hatred she had for him pale much more in comparison, it actually made him stop.

_''Stay away from him!''_ her hiss was just as strong, if not stronger and that made Orochimaru a bit proud of her, but nonetheless he found her reaction to this bit of news surprising. Did she know the boy on some level? His initial spy reports had already shown the boy had no one growing up.

Unless of course, it went beyond what his spies could uncover.

His smirk returned a hundred-fold as he replied in kind. ''A bit late for that, Anko-chan. The Uchiha and the Uzumaki bear my mark, so he will come to me of his own free will, it is absolutely certain.'' and the Sannin took great pleasure in seeing the horrific realization come upon her face once those words were spoken. Her eyes went wide in terror, and strangely enough a sense of failure? _Interesting._

''No...no...you didn't...'' she looked broken by that realization, but Orochimaru didn't care really. So, he let go of the woman and turned around.

''I have a feeling you'll find out soon enough, now until then it's been fun, Anko-chan.'' and without another word Orochimaru melded into the wood vanishing without a trace and leaving behind the emotionally wrecked woman to her restraints.

Tilting her head to the side, Anko's eyes trembled until two tear's gathered up and fell.

_'No...no...please not Naruto...'_

In her vision, Anko saw a bright little blond boy with round blue eyes grinning, ignoring the harsh glares directed at him and the insulting whispers spoken behind his back. The face of the saddened boy crying alone in his room with no one to comfort him. The very face of the young boy glaring back into those that made his life hell. The face of the broken boy bedridden in the hospital from a multitude of severe injuries inflicted upon him.

_'He's suffered enough...'_

It was moments later she was found by the Hokage's personal Anbu, and when she was freed from her restraints the captain of the squad tried getting her attention.

''Mitarashi! Hurry, we need to report your findings back to the Hokage, it's urgent he knows whatever you've found.'' he spoke, jarring her from her trip down memory lane. Taking a moment to realize hat he said, she quickly got up, taking all the information she knew now the Hokage definitely needed to know about what was going on.

''You're right, let-''

But then something terrifying happened.

_**''AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!''**_

A blood curdling scream of such magnitude it was heard from miles on end, no doubt being heard by all the occupants of the Forest, but the voice of the scream made Anko's blood run cold, for she knew that voice. It was _his!_

''_What the hell was-_'' the poor Anbu captain didn't even get to finish before they were caught unawares by something that made all their blood run cold. For what followed the scream was a shockwave so powerful, it ripped the forest asunder, tearing the tree's right out of the ground and disrupting the earth as it went. The 5 were easily blown back as the shockwave began to devastate everything in it's path.

But the shinobi were able to gain a foothold in time, just to see where the point of the shockwaves originated, and what they saw made them feel something else.

_Fear_.

For a few miles ahead of them, they saw a giant pillar of pure energy pierce the sky. But that alone wasn't the cause of their fear, it was the oppressive, majestic, terrifying, divine feeling it gave off. The clouds swirled around the pillar that disrupted the heavens, but nothing would stop the anomaly of pure power.

The feeling of oppression became so strong they were all forced to their knee's. ''W-what is this?!'' spoke one of the Anbu Captain's subordinates.

Anko on the other hand was staring straight at where the pillar was originating all she could hear from the ravaging winds was _his _voice, his screaming.

_'Naruto!'_

And when the pillar suddenly vanishing into the disrupted sky, Anko stood up and took off toward the location without so much as a warning.

''What? Mitarashi!'' without another word the Anbu followed after the speeding Kunoichi, but nothing the Captain said would deter her from finding the source of that She had to make sure, damn whatever rules that forbid any intervention. She had to make sure he was okay!

But nothing would prepare her or anyone for what they were about to witness.

**OwO**

Coal black eyes drifted open only to be greeted by a realm of the darkest black, _'Where am I?...'_

"_Tou-san...didn't have to die..."_

His head snapped in the direction of the voice only to be stunned when he found himself staring at a little girl, raven hair fell around her head in a straight mess, but tears continuously fell from her eyes.

_'No...'_ he mouthed out that word before he even knew that he did.

"_In the end, if you don't have the strength you can't do anything. That's what he taught me."_

The little girl was speaking her mind, and he couldn't say nothing against it because, they were _his_ own words.

"_Because I didn't have the strength...the Clan was wiped out...nearly everyone was killed...kaa-san was put in a coma..."_

He scowled as memories of the massacre came flooding back, seeing all his dead clansmen slaughtered like cattle, their blood flooded the street's and it stained his soul black.

"_You...You let them die...all you did was watch!"_ he was floored when the girl spat at him, her equally coal black eyes glaring at him with tear's running down her eyes. The expression of anguish, of sorrow, of pain was evident on her face and he nearly lost his composure.

_'No...no...NO!'_

"_If only you had the strength!"_ the little girl's voice slowly changed into one of a deep yet smooth tone, and Sasuke could only watch in sick terror as he watched the little girl rip away at her face revealing a lone amber slitted eye. The eye of a snake.

_'NOOOOOOOOOOOO!'_

And in a flash of light, the darkness that surrounded was pierced and was destroyed before a softer voice rung in his ears. It made all his worries, all his fears, all his doubts go to the farthest end of his mind.

"_Sasu-chan, it's okay to cry, kaa-san's here~" _Sasuke saw the image of that same little girl in the warm embrace of her mother, _his mother_.

_'Kaa-san...'_ Sasuke mumbled to himself before the image bled away and into another.

_'"Don't cry...Suko-chan...I'll...be fine..."'_ this time a voice of a young boy sounded off and it made a cold chill run down her spine when she saw the image become clear. It was her_,_ the little girl again, but she was in the middle of a blood soaked forest. The blood of life mixed in with the pelting rain soaked her body to the bone, but she paid it no heed as she kneeled down at the body before her.

Unlike her, wounds weren't inflicted anywhere upon her body, the boy infront of on the other hand was the polar opposite. His body was riddled with far too many wounds to count, gashes and cuts from kunai bled profusely from his body. Shuriken's still in his little body punctured his flesh and caused blood to bubble upwards. His left arm was twisted at an odd angle and his right arm was completely pulled out of socket. His usually spiky golden locks was stained with blood, _his blood_.

Yet, despite his state, he was able to gift her with his usual grin, but it did nothing to ease her emotional trauma as blood stained his usual pearly whites. His round blue eyes were losing the light they usually held. But the grip he had on her own hand was nonetheless strong as ever.

_'No...'_ Sasuke thought as he looked upon the image with horrific realization, the memories were beginning to come back. The coldness returned as she watched the light in the boys eyes slowly begin to fade.

Until they were gone.

_'No...No!...No!No!No!No!No!No! NOOOOOOOOOO! NARUTO!'_

The Uchiha was caught off guard when the image suddenly exploded into a bright light. It was so intense that he had to shield his eyes from, but when it died down Sasuke opened his eyes again only to be finding himself staring.

At himself...

Or rather it looked like him, but it was actually a young girl of his age with loose raven hair. Her coal black orbs were cold, firm, strong, but guarded. She wore the exact same clothing as himself down the high-collared shirt, white shorts and shinobi sandals. But her physique was definitely that of a maturing young woman, her clothes did a good job of hiding her chest area, but he knew that her chest was held back by bindings, as a precaution. However, the major difference was, was that she was _smiling._

A frown marred Sasuke's features as he looked at her, just seeing her made him feel like looking away, but he could not for that would be to deny his own existence. To deny his own self, but it was for his own protection, his mother had said. At the time he was only confused by what she said, but went along with it anyhow. Disguising herself with the advanced henge's and genjutsu's only his mother could ever give. Her skill in the art was nigh untraceable too, and it's why it's worked for all these years.

Until now...

"_He needs us..."_ he heard the girl infront of him speak and he saw her reach out with her hand. Her voice was smooth, quiet, and it reminded him just how long he'd gone from using that voice. For fearing of people finding out who he really was, but that was a moot point now.

Because his best friend needed him, her teammates needed her!

And for the longest time, Uchiha Sasuke allowed a small smile to grace his face before he took hold of her hand in his own.

_'And I will help him!'_ he spoke, but his voice slowly, but surely became the same tone as the girls before the two vanished in a bright light before darkness took hold.

**OwO**

She couldn't believe this was happening.

_''Sakura...who did this to you?''_

She thought everything would be okay, that she could defend her teammates.

_''So you three did it...''_

But she had been wrong, she had overestimated herself and paid the price for it. Sakura tried to defend her two teammates with all she had, but it proved to be fruitless after being beaten back. It became apparent to her they were merely toying with her at that point, but the ridicule meant nothing to her, if protecting their life's a second longer, than it was all worth it.

Unfortunately, however, she had almost been killed if not for the timely interference of the weird boy, Rock Lee, yet he too had fallen prey to the mummified boy with his strange sound techniques, and just when she thought she was about to die, she was saved yet again by Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. For a moment she thought they would have been able to repel them when Ino captured the girl of the Oto team with her Clan's Shintenshin no Jutsu, but she was proven very wrong when the boy, Zaku his name was, began attacking her.

_'Hah? You're confused.'_

_'Our goals have nothing to do with safely completing this exam nor getting your stupid scrolls. What we want is to kill Uchiha Sasuke! As for Kin she had her uses, but now she's just a liability.'_

They were planning to kill her regardless of it being a teammate, and she had been afraid for her friend/rivals life at that point, but out of nowhere another team appeared. She didn't know who they were, but it was quickly made apparent that they were teammates with Lee. At first, she and everyone else thought they were interfere, but the Hyuga boy didn't.

Because instead, something else saved them.

_Sasuke..._

Which led to Sakura's current situation, her eyes could only stare at the back of the Uchiha she, Ino and so many other girls sought and crushed on in the Academy. He had awoken, but he was _different. _Strange black-flame like markings were spreading throughout his body, his sharingan was flaring in complete view. And the intent to kill was crystal clear. Vile purple chakra was swirling about him in such a way that it only seemed to make him all the more fearsome.

But the biggest change was that he, was infact a _she!_

Being a girl herself, she couldn't doubt what the dramatic change she saw in Sasuke's body, no matter how much her mind wished it to be a lie. Her eyes did not lie.

Sasuke's hair was straight and flat falling past her neckline while covering her ears, while the two twin bangs he had still remained, and the roguish face he once had was no longer present, and instead there was just the face of a girl with a much softer yet firm facial appearance. Having longer eyelashes, soft round cheeks and plush lips. However it wasn't just that, but her entire body was just akin to that of a females. But it didn't seem to bother Sasuke at all, and the fact he was a she didn't even detract from the fact she was absolutely scary as all hell.

She could only watch in morbid terror as her once stoic teammate strangely woke and even more strangely turned female, literally began picking apart the Oto genin, Zaku, with little to no restraint. There was no mercy in her movements, no compassion, no sympathy, only the promise of a painful death awaited the Oto genin.

''You seem very proud of these arms.'' Sakura could only watch in fright when Sasuke's words were spoken. The Uchiha heiress had her foot planted firmly on his back with boss his arms behind him, and in her grasp. It was a painful position to be sure, but the way she kept pulling only made the pink haired girl's blood run cold.

''S-sasuke...don't...'' Sakura muttered out, but her voice was too weak, to frail to be heard by the changed Uchiha.

Hiding in the bushes, the Ina-Shika-Cho of team 10 could only watch what was happening in a myriad of emotions. Mainly consisting of shock, confusion, but ultimately justified fear.

''What the hell is with Sasuke? What's happened to him?'' Choji asked the question on all their minds, but Ino's thoughts were much more aligned with confusion mixed with her initial fright.

_'And why does he look so different? Is he...a she? And this chakra...so...large...and so vile...what happened?'_

''Ah! Ah! S-stop you crazy bitch!'' Zaku's cries shook the girl from her thoughts as the Uchiha merely kept pulling. She seemed to take delight in his pain, finding it a righteous punishment for daring to even hurt her teammate. Her Sharingan eyes spun wildly as she pulled harder, and harder, and _harder._

''Well you should have thought of that before attacking my teammates. Now you're going too suffer!'' and in a quick, but firm yank of her arms.

_Snap!_

''AAWWWW!'' Zaku's scream sounded off all around the area, but it didn't even faze the Uchiha as she dropped him to the ground. His whimpers were music to her ears as she glanced over her shoulder. Taking in every single person that was in the area with a guarded gaze until her eyes landed on the mummified boy, Dosu. And only then did she let loose a demented grin that did _not_ look right on the Uchiha's face.

''So, you're the last one? I do hope you can give me a better fight.'' she said, turning around before stalking toward him. And with step she made, the marks grew more pronounced and her chakra stronger and all the more vile.

This was a sight that utterly terrified the shaken Dosu Kinuta. The young man had thought he and his team would have been able to complete their objective given to them by their leader, Orochimaru, but they were completely misinformed of the fact Sasuke somehow had come in contact with Orochimaru beforehand and was given the Curse Mark. Never minding the fact the Uchiha was a girl, she had actually survived the initial process!

And he could only watch in slight terror as she picked Zaku apart with little effort at all, and now her gaze was on him.

The terror only increased ten-fold at that point.

_'Those eyes! Such large and vile chakra! It's just like Orochimaru-sama! I-I have to get out of here!' _that was the only reasonable thing he could do at this point. He knew he wouldn't stand a chance against the Uchiha at this point, not with her awakening of the Curse Mark. That was just asking to be killed.

''W-wait, here you want our scroll take it! Take it!'' he fished out their scroll and tossed it to the Uchiha's feet, and for a moment he felt a moment of relief when she stopped to look at the scroll. She did seem to think on it before kicking it backwards, letting it roll to Sakura as she just continued toward him, like a predator was to her prey.

''Thanks, _but you're still going to die..._'' that comment only cemented the fear into Dosu as he was frozen by the Uchiha's glare. He took a moment to wonder what else he or Zaku could have done to incur the Uchiha's wrath besides attacking the pink haired girl. They attacked her, defeated the taijutsu weirdo and the three snot nosed punks from before.

_'But then Zaku used his attack to crush the Uchiha and her...two...teammates.'_ that realization made his lone eyes widened before they looked directly behind the Uchiha and the pinkette to see the Uchiha's third blond teammate. But he was left shocked when he saw the injured blond was beginning to let off a cyan aura of pure energy.

Then it dawned on him...

The Uchiha was mad for attacking the blond!

He could only curse Zaku's insufferable carelessness at this point.

The crunching of steps shook him of his thoughts and he looked up only to see a pairing of blazing red Sharingan eyes baring back down on him. His body suddenly began to shake like a leaf inside a hurricane, such was the intensity in her eyes that it made him feel like he was truly staring into the eyes of something truly dark, more vile than anything he had ever known. Not even Orochimaru's chakra was this foul at this point.

''What...are you...'' that was the only thing he could say as Sasuke readied her kunai, and she could only let loose a cold unforgiving smirk.

''Your deat-''

_''Ugh!''_

And like a switch was flipped the Uchiha stopped at the small sound, the wracking pain filled grunt made her freeze until her head, like all the others snapped in the direction from where it came. Sharingan eyes widened when she saw it coming from her blond teammate. But the something as different about him, it was the fact his entire body was convulsing as he was literally _consumed_ in a an aura of cyan flames. Azure blue mixed with majestic green chakra leaked off his body only to meld together into an aura of cyan flames which were engulfing the blonds body.

''Naruto!'' any amount of blood lust or insanity was washed away the moment she him in pain. The black marks receded as all thoughts of revenge or hostility was flushed away. Without a second thought she moved in a blur of motion before appearing at his side. She was aware of Sakura coming to her side, but her eyes were strictly stuck on the blonds state.

And what she saw wasn't pretty, he was soaked in sweat and his veins were clearly visible from his paling complexion. Every second or so they bulged, and his chest was moving up and down at a frightening yet erratic pace. His breathing was completely out of control, his muscles were tightening and constricting to the point she swore his clothes were beginning to strain against him.

''S-sasuke...look!'' she heard Sakura speak and glanced at her teammate before looking at where she was pointing, and what she saw was shocking. She only noticed it now, but there was mark on the blonds collarbone, a wing like pattern that was glowing a mix of black and cyan.

_'What in the name of Kami?'_

''Gah! Guh!'' his grunts grew louder and faster, and the Uchiha's worry leaped when she saw his nails digging into the earth, his veins were bulging faster and faster and his eyes were beginning to flicker and twitch.

''Naruto! Answer me dammit!'' she yelled, but it did nothing. He was far too gone in his current state to even register any outside voices.

But then a voice cut out from behind her.

''GET AWAY FROM HIM!'' she and Sakura turned around to see the Hyuga boy atop the tree branch looking in their direction with his Byakugan activated while a healthy amount of fear appeared in his eyes. Knowing her history on the Byakugan she knew that they had the greatest dojutsu when it came to reading the finer points of someone's inner chakra and their chakra network, but she was too late to react in time, the only sign she had was the ground started to tremble before she looked behind her to see the cyan energy beginning to intensify, and when Naruto's eyes did open, all she saw was...

A royal green, glowing green was all she saw before he let loose a _scream_.

_**''AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!''**_

Reacting with all the speed she could muster, she grabbed Sakura and dove into the hollow tree nearby.

And what followed was nothing short of both spectacular yet utterly frightening, an explosion ripped out from Naruto's body, turquoise energy escaped him as he screamed and it expanded as it shot upwards. Obliterating everything in it's path as it shot into the sky and pierced the very heavens themselves. It was surely a spectacle to be seen for Kami knows how far.

However the initial shockwave however was the more damaging aspect. It ripped the ground and tree's asunder, sending everything flying, and this included anyone not fast enough to react in time.

Meaning: Team 10 was sent flying

''KYAAAH!''

''What the heelllll!''

''So troublesoommmmeeee!''

The three were blown back by the force, but Choji reacted in time to utilize his clans partial growth jutsu to catch his teammates and hang onto the biggest tree he could.

They knew Naruto was unpredictable, but this was just fucking ridiculous!

In a couple of minutes it continued until a great flash of light erupted from the center point of the explosion, and as it died down those affected by the blast were able to recover and were greeted with the sight of smoke and debris lifting up in the air and into the atmosphere. It was as if the laws of gravity meant nothing in this single point of the earth.

Crawling out from the hollowed tree, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves the closest to the proverbial ground zero as it were. Their breath hitched when the smoke was suddenly wiped away by what looked like a force of wind or slice of gust. And thus, everyone in the area was allowed to see what had happened.

''Oh my Kami...'' spoke the bun haired girl of the Hyuga's team, and indeed that was all that could be said to sum up what they saw. Even the Hyuga boy's face was a perfect expression of absolute shock.

Because, crouched inside a crater the same size as the pillar of energy not long ago was in fact, Uzumaki Naruto. He remained almost entirely unchanged if not for the single fact his upper clothing was completely obliterated revealing his torso. Strange cyan colored markings spread out from his body and over his face, but they glowed with intensity. However, the eye catcher was the fact that behind the Uzumaki's back on his right shoulder was a single angel wing of the purest white. The feathery wing was as white as the heavens and it gave a soft glow of white radiance before it stretched out it's wingspan as the blond himself stood up.

It was silent as a graveyard when his eyes began to open, but for the blond the very first sight he saw when he opened his eyes was his exhausted teammates. His blue eyes were no longer the same, instead what greeted the two girls were cold, but strong cyan orbs. His eyes looked upon them, staring at them with the utmost of care, lingering on Sakura before going to Sasuke and the only emotion that flashed across his eyes was a sense of surprise.

_''Sakura...Sasuke...''_ that was all the blond could say before his eyes rolled into the back of his skull, and upon knowing what was coming the blonds teammates rushed to him.

''Naruto!'' the Uchiha caught him before he fell, but the marks upon his body quickly began to recede back into the point of its origin. Along with it, the wing upon the blonds back folded before it dispersed in a flash of cyan colored particles.

It was only a moment later that the other occupants around them began to gather either out of concern for their fellow shinobi or for others curiosity.

Unknown to them though, they had several eyes watching them from different points. And each one holding varying reactions to what they just witnessed. But none were stronger than one, Anko Mitarashi, who stared from above. She ignored the Anbu watching from behind her, her eyes were solely glued on the unconscious blond. Shock was the first emotion she felt before relief began to settle in once she knew that the blond was safe.

Still what she just witnessed...

_'Naruto...what in Kami's name...what did that Snake do to you?'_

Now that was the question, wasn't it?

* * *

**So, as said above, I overly underestimated how much of a revamp this needed so I've decided to solely focus on this one for now. I deleted all the old work done in this chapter and re-did it. It's got the same concept that I had, but for those that remembered reading the original this is vastly different to how it was.**

**Explanations:**

**Anko knowing Naruto:**I cannot say much without spoiling, but basically she's very close to him in more ways than just being fellow shinobi. Why she cares for him the way she does will be further explained as we go along.

**Sasuke's Situation:**The original part of this idea had me going along with a female Sasuke sort of deal, and I decided to follow a similar route, but very different from what was originally planned. I hope the memory trip was enough to sate any sort of curiosity anyone may have for this topic. Because I can say no more on it without spoiling.

**What is the Naraku no Juin **_(Cursed Seal of Hell)_**:** I cannot say much about it besides it being an idea I've come up with it. We've got the Cursed Seal of Earth and of Heaven, but never one for Hell. And after learning about the origin of the curse marks I figured it to be a good idea to make something of my own creation with it. I can say no more though, I'll just leave you guys to try and figure it out. ^^

**Sakura's Determination:**As some of you may know, in the past I was a serious basher for all sorts of characters in this genre. But, after awhile I just grew out of it because I just didn't see a reason to do something so meaningless when you could expand the character you hate into a much more likable person. That's why I'll be focusing on her development as well.

**Orochimaru's interest in Naruto:** In the manga, Orochimaru held no interest in the blond until he defeated Kabuto with his Rasengan, but I felt this would be a good way to awaken that interest in a more unique manner. Orochimaru is a man that see's potential at first glance, and he could see it the moment Naruto fought him. It's why he marked Naruto along with Sasuke, because he wants to see that potential flourish, to see what would happen when it did, what would be wrought upon his choice of marking Uzumaki Naruto.

**I think that addresses everything, if not leave any further questions in your reviews. Criticisms are very welcome, but flames are also welcome. I'll use them to keep me warm during this cold winter. ^^**

**Have a Happy Holiday everyone!**

**TDKN**


	3. Cause and Effect

**2 Year's since the last update can't say I'm really surprised given what I'm dealing with. Financial issues aside I've had to deal with the ever encroaching issue of figuring out what I want to do with my life. Thereafter went back to school for a Bachelors in Business which should end by 2020 if I do it right. **

**However, that's in the future, I'm here now, and I'm gonna stay. Discontinued a lot of my stories, but have yet delete them as they serve as both a reminder of my past failures and I suppose people would like for my old work to remain.**

**I have changed the title of this story from "Naruto: Rise of the Archangel" to what it is now, and the category crossover due to story purposes.**

**Now enough talk, let's begin.**

* * *

"_You ask why this war even goes on well here's the thing. It is in human nature to cause conflict; that is the rudimentary rule of mankind, for it is what defines us. We exist to thrive, to adapt, to evolve, and to fight. It is what we are as a species and who we are as individuals. However, when you mix in Shinobi, chakra, bijuu, and a foreign power the likes of which has never been seen before? Then you can bet your ass the whole world will go up in the flames of war." **~?**_

**Naruto: Rise of the Archangel**

**Chapter 2: Cause and Effect**

An uncomfortable silence permeated a clearing within the wrecked Forest of Death. It's perimeters, the forest, nay, the entire world seemingly went still at what had just occurred was still fresh in the minds of those that had just witnessed it. Everyone outside of the Forest had felt it, Konohagakure had _seen_ the cyan pillar rip out from the infamous forest, and they had felt the pure raw power explode into the skies of their world. Thereafter resulting in a bright flash that ignited the very skies aflame for what felt like an eternity. All inhabitants outside of Konoha felt it. It was akin a tremor that reached into every single living soul on the planet, affecting their very souls on such a basic primal level it left everyone with a solitary sense of _fear_.

The power had been otherworldly there was simply no other way to explain it. It had lasted for the briefest of seconds, but it's sheer untainted power had dwarfed anything this world had ever seen. It made the bijuu of legends pale in comparison to this supernatural phenomena. So immense it left all the other countries of the world both big and small standing in fear and awe; it was akin to bearing witness to the wrath of the kami. It left the Great lords, the Daimyo's, scurrying in terror. It left everyone and everything on the planet in a state of sheer despair.

This would be the day when religious groups around the world called this the beginning of the Apocalypse, for the shinobi villages it would be known simply as the _"The Forest of Death Phenomena". _For the rest of the world it be what marked the beginning of what would be known as the bloodiest and destructive war in the history of their planet. For the select few who experienced it first hand it would be the start of what would change their lives forever.

Yet for Konoha, it would be the day the Chunin Exams were canceled.

**OwO**

Standing within the Hokage tower, the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood before the windows of his office overlooking his beloved home. He was perched there like a statue his eyes shadowed by the rim of his kage hat and his body seemingly appearing to be frail, and tired even. Yet for the other occupants in office they knew that is was a simple ruse to what lay beneath, for in that deceptively frail and weak frame lay the strength and genius shinobi that had become known as the _Kami no Shinobi_.

The other occupants of the room were the two esteemed elders of the Konohagakure Council. Advisers to the Hokage and the old teammates of Sarutobi Hiruzen all of whom belonged to Team Tobirama. Koharu stared at the back of Hiruzen in what some would have considered a worried frown in her expression. Whilst Homura stood stone still his expression an exemplar of a stone statue; cold and resolute.

"I will not waste time with pleasantries you two; you know why I have called you here." their Hokage broke the silence in the room and the two stood still once they heard his voice. It was not the voice of the man some of the generation had come to see as their Grandfather. This was the voice of the man who had become world renowned for his ingenuity in times of war. His voice was absolute and his word defined his complete authority. There would be no questioning him, and there would be not a single act of disobedience. When he spoke, you listened and acted on his order.

"As of right now reports have been flying in from our spies in the other villages. The chatter has been nonstop since the event, and Jiraiya has seen fit to give me multiple reports on the activities of all the major villages and daimyo's. They've acted by calling back all their shinobi including those attending the chunin exams. They are bolstering their forces and as we speak the daimyos of the other countries are squabbling with our daimyo over what had just happened. Some even outright threatening war should an answer not be given to them." he said this before turning to address them.

"However, we will _not_ submit on this. They will take nothing, and we shall give them _everything_ Konoha has to offer in terms of bloodshed. As of this moment I declare the chunin exams are from henceforth canceled, and all foreign shinobi are to be made to leave within 24 hours. Any stragglers are to be considered POW's; if any are found they are to be captured and sent to T&amp;I. Those that fight are to be killed on sight." he continued, his tone of voice never raising or lowering. Equal and balanced was what described Hiruzen the most at this very moment.

"Homura, Koharu you two are too spread the word. I, the Sandaime Hokage, am issuing yellow alert for the village. All shops are to be closed within the hour, and everyone to return to their homes. The Jonin sensei's of the teams in the Chunin exams are to retrieve their students, and every other available Jonin is to increase patrols both in and outside the village for any potential spies escaping or coming into the village. Screening of foreigners are to be handled by the Yamanaka's henceforth, should any show signs of opposition they are to be captured and sent to T&amp;I." he stated listing off every notion increase of security.

"I want a message sent to the ANBU sotaicho to meet me within the hour, and another message is to be sent to all Clan heads. In preparation for possible war, I am issuing for the reformation of the War Council, is that understood?" he finalized his words and they simply gave a nod of acceptance. Once they saw his eyes they knew it would be impossible for them to change his minds.

"And also, the ANBU detachment I sent alongside Mitarashi Anko are to report back to me immediately, now go!" he ordered and they wordlessly complied. For the first time in years their bodies tensed and moved with the ease of a shinobi as they vanished in a swirl of smoke and leafs.

As they disappeared to carry out his word, Hiruzen turned back to looking over his village, and his eyes looked upward into the cloudy cyan sky that had been the aftermath of the _'phenomena'. _A frown wrinkled in his features as his eyes glazed over at what he had experienced.

_'Power. Unbridled Fury. Terrifying in it's majestic splendor.'_

His eyes narrowed as his thoughts began to change.

_'Whatever that was, I must find out to distinguish if it is a threat to Konoha or not. That power was far beyond anything I've seen in my years. Even the Kyuubi's power from that night couldn't compare to that.'_ and the thought of the Kyuubi made his frown deepen as his thoughts changed to his wayward grandson in all, but blood.

_'In spite of all this chaos, and the more to come; please be safe Naruto.'_ he offered a silent prayer before he opened his eyes as he felt the appearance of another in his office.

"Danzo..." he uttered as an old man silently walked up beside the Hokage. His cane clacking on the floor before standing beside the Hokage.

''You called, Hiruzen?'' Danzo replied to which Hiruzen frowned before he sent a cold stare to his old friend.

''It's time we talk war, Shimura Danzo. My first order, the _reformation of ROOT._" he said his eyes cold, yet solemn in what he was saying.

Danzo's lone eye widened in surprise at what he had just heard before turning to address his leader only for his shock to disappear once he saw the look in Hiruzen eyes. This wasn't the elderly frail man he had seen his friend becoming in times of peace. This was the man of legend he was speaking with, the man he respected above all else.

A smirk stretched his features before finally replying.

"_It will be done, Hokage-sama_."

**OwO**

In the central tower within the Forest of Death the inhabitants of it were running damage control whilst those that had made it through the forest were left to their respective sensei's to keep them under control. Some of those that had made it were from other villages such as Kumo, Iwa, Suna, and Kusa. However, there was no sign of any Konoha teams, or of the sole Oto team as well. Whilst the senseis of these respective teams went about calming the emotions of their respective teams some of them were left to ponder on what had just coccurred.

One particular red head whose ruby wine red eyes took in the whole situation with a form of such terror that it rattled her to the very core. Being the 'type' of person she was left the young woman internally wrecked as she had been one of the rare few with the chakra sensory trait born within them. Thus, when the event had occurred and she was just reaching the tower she had not just felt it, she had not just heard it, or _seen_ it on a level that no one could have truly perceived.

_'There's no way...what I saw...what was that...it was so dense, so strong, it like staring straight into the core of the sun, but it was so...warm...so bright.'_

Her mind was in turmoil over what she had seen; she remained silent to even the prodding of her teammates, but the sensei for the Oto team watched her with with a particular amount of curiosity in his snake like eyes.

The Oto team sensei was a rather pale man with the usual uniform for the Otogakure shinobi; his black hair was long and straight which was tied up in a high pony-tail. Currently, he stood in the corner watching the proceedings with amusement, and while he glanced at the traumatized red head his mind went back to what he himself had seen as well. Recollecting on the experience of what he had felt and seen for himself.

And he suppressed a grin that threatened to split his face, and instead let loose a satisfied smirk.

_'It would seem you've gone and not just met my expectations, but you've managed to go above and beyond them Naruto-kun. There is no doubt now, if you were accepted by the Naraku no Juin then you are the holder of something beyond this world.' _the mere thought brought a shiver down the disguised Orochimaru as he thought about his latest prospect of interest.

_'However, I underestimated the effect this would have. That power goes beyond the origin of the bijuu, this is something truly alien. Now, what will be your move sensei?'_ Orochimaru thought about this. The effect of this was something not even he expected thus if his former sensei chose to cancel the Chunin exams then he would have little choice, but to pull back both the Oto and Suna forces.

Although it would give them time to bolster their forces, Orochimaru was more interested in what would occur in that time frame. There was no doubt in his mind that Hiruzen would call back his forces, Jiraiya would be a definite, and if push came to shove he knew his former sensei would be shrewd enough to force Konoha's runaway princess Tsunade back to Konoha if it came down to it. It was a strategy of war protocol, bolster your forces in the event of total war, and if what just happened was anything to go by then there was a good chance of that happening.

After all, something or better yet some_one_ had just unleashed that amount of power that was unrivaled, even to the bijuu. Thus, as history has recorded humans will fight to gain control over it, and thusly bring about another world war that'll stain this bloodstained world anew.

_'But then again, what better way for Naruto-kun and Sasuke-chan to prosper then in the thick of war?'_ smiling at the thought Orochiarmu's gaze fell on the Suna team and as he glanced at their sensei Baki who met his eyes. An order was made between Orochimaru to which the Suna shinobi frowned, but gave the slightest motion of a nod to agreement. Then Orochimaru cast his gaze to the Suna siblings, and his smirk only grew when he looked at the jinchūriki of the Ichibi.

Sabaku no Gaara, youngest daughter to the Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa; was as unstable as unstable can get; however contrast to her normal personality that was a monotone human being which hid the psychopathic killer underneath, now it would seem the girl was also suffering from what he had felt as well, but it was of a different kind.

Yet in contrast to her personality on the outside she was a peculiar sight to behold. Those with experience from the past would almost mistake her for an Uzumaki due to her shoulder-length spiky red hair. Her fair skin was striking contrast to her blood red hair and teal eyes, and she was already growing into a beautiful young woman that would garnered the attention of many if not for her personality being as twisted as it was. One distinctive feature she had was the taunki black rings around her eyes which seemed to be more from an extreme case of sleep deprivation.

The young girl was suffering though, but more than fromjust a sense of overwhelming fear. The very question of her existence was being threatened as the aftereffects of that power still overwhelmed her. Her body, soul, and mind felt like they were being pushed to the brink of oblivion and would either submit to this power or plummet to it's doom. It took all her strength to just keep standing, but even then that was a struggle in of itself.

However, she would find a support not even she expected.

From the very thing she viewed as her _'mother'_.

_**'That power...it was similar to father, but different as well. Was this what you spoke of father? Whoever released that power, is that the person you spoke of?' **_Shukaku thought to itself before making up it's mind on the matter. For centuries Shukaku had suffered along with it's brethren the machinations of mankind. For so long they suffered that Shukaku, the youngest of them all developed a persona of a short tempered entity. Quickly prone to anger and lust for blood to sate it's own hatred for mankind it would lash out at anything or anyone that crossed it's path. Yet in this moment, in this singular moment of time, this event caused Shukaku to _stop_. The power washed over the bijuu, and had literally cleansed the bijuu of all it's hatred it had accumulated over the centuries. Thus, allowing it to think freely without the influence of it's anger taking control.

And now, free of it's hatred Shukaku planned to find the source of this power and begin repercussion's. First and foremost being, the mental recovery of it's vessel.

"_**Girl, no, Gaara, no matter what it takes you must find the source of that power. Find the one who released it, and I guarantee you will find meaning in your existence." **_Shukaku spoke to the girl who froze once she heard it's voice. Yet from out of all the other times it had spoken this time it's voice was crystal clear. There was no threats, no calling for bloodshed. It was just..._calm._

Being raised, guided, and protected by this voice she knew better than to question the voice. _'Yes, mother.'_ replying Shukaku frowned at her response, and decided to later set her straight on what he was, but for now more important things took priority.

"_**Good, but for now work to stabilize yourself, and when the chance presents itself take it. You will have my full aid when that moment comes."**_ the bijuu stated causing Gaara to frown before giving the mental equivalent of a nod.

But in the recesses of her own mind, as she began to ease into the effects the power had over her for one peculiar reason or another an image of a Konoha shinobi faded into mind. As if it was the representation of what this power was, or perhaps it was the appearance of the one who unleashed this power. The face was of a grinning golden spiky haired idiot, yet his blue eyes were a solemn emotion; an emotion she was all too familiar with.

An uneasy smile made its way across her face, and while her brother and sister may have seen, and felt a little disturbed by it. For her, it was a way to express her relief; no matter how small it may be.

_'I at least have a face, now I just need a name of the man who can give my existence meaning.'_

**OwO**

It all happened so fast.

There was literally nothing that she could do or say.

It happened the moment Naruto fell unconscious everything seemingly went still before time resumed, and what came next put them all on edge.

"_By order of the Sandaime Hokage, the Chunin exams are from henceforth canceled and the village is now under a state of alert. Code yellow has been established for an elevated threat of war. All Konoha chunin applicants are to be gathered up by their respective sensei, and taken back to the academy for a debriefing. All foreign shinobi have 24 hours to leave and any stragglers will be considers prisoners of war. Any that oppose shall be killed on sight."_

That had been word of mouth from her own sensei Kakashi who had appeared at their location along with the sensei's of Team 10 and 9. it had been the first time she had ever seen Kakashi so serious before, and it rattled her a bit, but she kept a strong head on her shoulders. Not for just herself, but for Sakura as well who was practically a basket case at this point. She had been staring at the unconscious form of their battered teammate with an unguarded amount of shock and sorrow.

She couldn't really blame her either for she herself had yet to move her eyes from as well, but for it was more than just what Sakura was feeling. Sasuke, or for what her mother had named her the moment she had been born Uchiha Sasuko, was feeling a turbulence of emotions since her deformation of her disguise. Memories unchained came rushing back to her, memories she always wanted to forget came back. Moments of her life before being forced to hide who she really was. Memories of when she had been nothing more than that of a innocent child. Without having to bear the burden of living in Itachi's shadow. The jealousy of fighting for father's attention. And the urge to always train with her brother.

It had been moments of her life that had been saved up within her soul; no matter how much it scarred her being.

Moments in her life when she had made her first friend in a child her mother invested as much time in as her at the Orphanage. A child who had been a grinning little loon full of energy had become her first friend in her first tender moments of childhood. A little boy, ostracized by the whole of the village, loved by her mother, and a boy who...

_'Blood sprayed into the air; overshadowing that cloudless full moon sky. A battered and beaten boy stood in front of her, his grin full of bloody teeth was strong in spite of the pain he was in.'_

"_**I ain't gonna let anybody hurt you Suko-chan. You're my friend, and for being my friend I won't let anyone hurt you for as long as I live."**_

Her frown deepened in a scowl as she looked at Naruto who was being carried on Kakashi's back while Sakura was held in a fireman's carry in his other arm. Staring at his battered and beaten form made her look away for it only brought back those memories.

_'Stupid dobe.'_

The last member of the four was in a state of mind that his three students would have found surprising if they knew. Being ahead of them as he led them out of the Forest his lone eye was narrowed as his thoughts led to a disconcerting path.

_'I saw something on that video feed before it blacked out. It was Sasuke for sure, but then she saw Naruto and went to him, but after that bright flash of light...it was Naruto in that crater.'_

He thought about this as he glanced to the mentally and emotionally scarred Sakura. Then he glanced to the entirely changed Sasuke, a classified S-rank secret if he ever saw one, but one he would not question until it was brought up. Sasuke was just as banged up as Sakura if not more so; he could see she was struggling to even move let alone keep pace, and her being marked by Orochimaru didn't help matters at all. Plus if the staring she'd been doing to Naruto was any indication then his wellbeing was more important to her than anything right now which only rattled his nerves more.

_'What happened to my students in this damned forest?!'_

For the first time, Kakashi felt his responsibility for his students well-being crashing onto him with the full force of the Kyuubi's bijuudama. He had been too hasty introducing them to the exams, his confidence in their abilities and short-sidedness led to to this incident, and they paid the price for his mistake; they had been marred by this whole thing, and a certain traitor had marked both Sasuke and Naruto with a seal that made him want to scream bloody murder.

_'I'm going to correct my mistake from the past. I am going to kill you for this, Orochimaru!'_ he cursed before he surprised Sasuke by throwing her over his right shoulder before he tripled his speed.

All the while he never noticed Naruto's expression twitching or scrunching up in pain. His eyes flickering and twitching as his brain shot up into higly active mode to process what was happening both on the outside and inside his body.

**OwO**

"I failed him." a solemn voice echoed within the reaches of Naruto's mindscape.

"_We_ both failed him" a female voice replied in opposition of the mans statement.

"The sins of the village cannot be forgiven. Through his own method, Orochimaru has given him a chance of freedom." the man spoke in kind.

"I agree, and we will be there for him every step of the way as we should have from the very beginning." spoke the female whose turn rose in emotion.

"Agreed dear, the power of the lifestream blocks even the Shinigami from taking the remnants of our souls nothing impedes us now." the man said, a smile crossing his handsome features.

"Nothing will stop us from seeing our son, no demon, no monster, and especially not some pasty faced white fucker of a God!" the fiery woman shouted in kind getting a chuckle from the man in turn though he was in full agreement.

"We are in agreement, now we only need your say in this endeavor. What say you..." the man spoke his voice echoing in the remnants of his sons mindscape. His icy blue eyes staring at bits and pieces of a shattered cage, and onto the form of tremendously giant iridescent nine-tailed fox whose cyan colored sliited orbs glanced his way with amusement. It's form easily dwarfing that of the Hokage monument by 10x.

_''...Kurama?"_

The chuckled before letting loose a grin, _and it was all teeth._

"_**I'm in."**_

* * *

**Thus ends this chapter's update. If you have questions I will answer, but anything spoiler related will be ignored.**

**Have a good day.**


	4. Tension and Preparation

**A question was asked in the recent reviews as to why I changed the stories title. While I did mention it in the last chapter I guess I must clarify on when I said _'for story purposes'_. The reason is because I've changed this story into a multiple crossover between Naruto x Final Fantasy XV with pseudo elements from Final Fantasy VII. The stories general purpose has also changed from what it originally was when it was first created to something more concrete and entertaining, in my opinion of course. The story reflects this as it's something I'm creating in celebration of a number of things, but the top reason being the established completion of an overly long developed game that's become a universe of it's own.**

**Hopefully this sates everyone's curiosity regarding the change. **

**That said let's begin.**

* * *

"_No one will harm those I love. Let my body stand as a testament to that fact. I will not fall. I will stand tall, and my voice will be remembered. Burn this into your mind, I am no Hero to be praised nor am I a mere sword to be used. I am that which will bring calamity to anyone that wishes harm on those I love." __**~Naruto**_

**Rise of the King: Naruto Lucis Caelum**

**Chapter 3: Tension and Preparation**

What happens when humans are introduced to something that could strengthen them as a species? They grow to understand it, integrate it into their society, and then somehow or someway weaponize that knowledge to kill each other with so they can dominate the other person, group, country or nation. Reason for the fight could be over such things as racial diversity, oppression of the weak from the strong, abuse of the upper class on the working class. Full scale wars could even be linked to such petty squabbles such as gender equality or who slept with which mans wife.

Humans issue war after war for whatever reason that suits them. It doesn't matter what that reason was as war fulfilled their primal instinct for conflict. To shed the blood of their fellow man, and instigate violence for the sake of violence itself. There is no other reason for humans are just that way. They are similar to ravenous dogs, or rabid animals. They fight for whatever they need to survive, and damn whatever is in their way.

So, who thought it was a bright idea to give these humans the energy of chakra? What crazy, bird-brained fool thought that was a good idea?

Chakra only turned humans into worse killing machines. Their violence for each other destabilized them as a species, and always halted their advancement as a whole.

So, what happens when something not of this world occurs in an age where Shinobi that utilize chakra for the sake of their own greed, loyalty or lust for power? When an event occurs that destabilizes the entire world and sends the occupants of the entire nation into a state of panic? What does the Daimyo's do? What do the Hidden Shinobi villages do when this occurs in a land that is the dominant power among shinobi?

They act in the only manner possible. Scared for their own survival they act in aggression.

"So this is what it's come down to then." spoke the voice of the Great Lord of Hi no Kuni, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Kurosaki Ryoske. The mans circular dark eyes narrowed upon the Court assembled before him. The Court of the Elemental Nations Daimyo's had been summoned in accordance to the phenomena. Though none of them were their physically, but they were able to transmit themselves through T.V transmissions. Ryoske eyed every daimyo that was in attendance, and inwardly he was already making plans upon plans, and on top of those he made contingency plans for what would no doubt be a disaster.

The Earth Daimyo scowled at Ryoske, and spoke. "There is no other option. We've yet to come to a general consensus on the topic. You've proven unrelenting on any information on whatever that thing was. For that reason, none of us can stand idle any longer Ryoske. We cannot let a potential unknown element threaten to destabilize the balance of power we'd held so dearly for more than a century. It is for that reason, both Iwa no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni along with all it's allies shall come down upon Hi no Kuni with the full force of it's combined military might. Goodbye, Ryoske." The earth Daimyo spoke before he, and all the other daimyo's cut connection with him.

Once they did Ryoske leaned back in his chair and intertwined his hands. His eyes narrowed in thought before he waved his hand, and in a ripple of a shadow a shinobi appeared before him kneeling on the ceramic floor.

''You called, Daimyo-sama?" the shinobi spoke to which Ryoske spoke.

''Yes I did, send the fastest messenger bird we have to all the allied countries we have, and another to Konoha. I am calling for a Summons of War with the Council of Konohagakure." He said causing the shinobi to bow his head.

"As you say." he said before vanishing.

As he disappeared, Ryoske closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"And so begins the _War of the Elements_." he said to himself in the solace of his solitude. The responsibility of what he was dealing with bearing down on his shoulders.

Let it be said, ruling a country is never easy.

**OwO**

Iryō-nin were always trained to handle nearly any scenario in mind when it came to the damage of the human body. Trained in various scenarios by top-tier Iryō-nin who in turn had been trained under the watchful eyes of Senju Tsunade during the Third Shinobi World War had made them feel like they could handle nearly any scenario. These shinobi were masters of healing and medical ninjutsu, they were scholars of anatomy of the human body, scientists when it came to concocting treatments of poisons induced into their sick and wounded, and even masters of the art of creating deadly poisons themselves.

What they lacked in flashy destructive jutsu's they made up for in the control of their own chakra. Only the finest of Iryō-nin were able to train themselves to control their chakra to such a degree they could use it to enhance their own physical abilities. For example, Senju Tsunade's legendary herculean strength or use your chakra as a weapon to damage the internal organs of their opponents. Though severely underestimated on the battlefield, and even looked down on at times; when it truly counted it was the use Iryō-nin that could mean the difference between victory or death.

The use of these shinobi were rare in the warring clans period. Though the use of the medical ninjutsu was a practice back then it was rarely ever recommended over the use of more destructive techniques that could be more proficient in the art of killing. It was for that reason Iryō-nin never truly came into form until Senju Tsunade brought about the system herself during the Second Shinobi World War. It was because of her they existed today, and for that they owed what they were, and how they could aid the wounded or help the sick to her teachings and principles.

It was for that reason for all their knowledge, all their technique and ways of healing the human body that they were baffled at what they were dealing with on their latest emergency patient. A person that the Hokage himself had called for the greatest of their own to begin working on. They had called the best of the best, even an executive order for the return of Senju Tsunade to help with the treatment of this one patient. Even with the hesitated acceptance by Hyuuga Hiashi they had to use some of the Hyuuga Iryō-nin, special variants of the norm of their system specialized in the healing of the chakra network themselves. Yet everything they did hadn't even fazed their patient who had been in a comatose state since being brought in by his sensei Hatake Kakashi.

One would wonder why so much importance was being issued on this patient, but considering the events taking place in the world those that knew the special circumstances of this young man, Uzumaki Naruto, understood his importance to the villages overall military strength.

After all, what good was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, Konohagakure's greatest tool in battle, in a time that inevitable war was on the horizon?

Which was why they had their best working on him in the hospital built into the academy and Hokage Tower. A special facility built specifically for individuals of high priority such as the Hokage, the Advisers, Daimyo's, or other politically influential individuals that were in need of the best care possible.

Unfortunately this was a patient not even their best could even hope to figure out on how to heal.

Watching from the outside the operating room, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood beside Hatake Kakashi with the last two of his students watching what was happening to their teammate with stunned expressions. Though Sasuko's expression was more tamed on the outside none could truly perceive the literal storm that was going on in her mind as she watched the medical nin operate and try to figure out what was wrong with her best friend.

Glancing their way for a moment, Hiruzen then looked to Kakashi who was staring at Naruto's unresponsive body in what was the most dead look in his eye the old kage had ever seen. Yet considering Kakashi's past it was hard to blame him for feeling this way.

It had been a few hours since he gave the order for the war protocol, and while results were trickling in from his field agents the village itself was already on lockdown. His meeting with the ANBU Sotaicho had seen to that. With his and Danzo's ROOT they were able to cut off all suspicious individuals from escaping. Effectively capturing potential spies from enemies villages and countries. Results from their session with Ibiki and Inoichi along with the reports he expected to be were to be on his desk within the time period of the next morning. By then all foreign shinobi should be gone by then, any stragglers would and will be dealt with.

The chunin being led by Jonin squadrons were ordered to scout the village both within and outside it's domain. While the rest of the Genin were called to the Academy for a debriefing from their sensei's and himself on the situation they found themselves in. However, before all that Hiruzen had to come and find out what had been the cause of what potentially started this entire mess. He could have started with the teams in the academy, but he felt in his gut he would get more information if he went directly to the team that had been at ground zero of the phenomena. That is reports from the ANBU who had witnessed it were holding any semblance of truth in them.

Besides that, after hearing about Naruto being pushed into emergency care he dropped all pretenses, and rushed down to find out what was wrong. Only for him to come upon the scene he was seeing right now. Seeing the son of his successor and the sole heir of the Uzumaki clan laid out on the operating table in front of him felt like a punch to the stomach. Seeing him in the state he was in made Hiruzen wish he'd denied Kakashi's request to put his team through the exams.

But it was too late now, and he would have to live with that mistake, just another mistake among thousand's more.

''I need to know you three.'' he spoke, his voice cutting through the tense silence causing the two young genin to look his way while Kakashi merely glanced at him before looking back at Naruto.

Seeing this Hiruzen mentally let out a figurative sigh before looking to the two genin. His gaze curious, yet authoritative as he questioned them with his eyes on what had happened to Naruto.

''Tell me Genin Haruno, Genin Uchiha. From the beginning to now what happened to Genin Uzumaki?" his tone was not that of the elderly grandfather figure that had grown up under for the first part of their lives. No, this was the voice of their leader, their _Hokage_ and in spite of the situation the two couldn't help, but too stand up straighter when he addressed them.

''Well Hokage-sama it's...its just..." Sakura began, but remembering what happened to them in that forest made her freeze up and hesitate, and seeing her like this Sasuko frowned before placing a hand on her shoulder before looking to the Hokage.

"It all began when we began the second part of the Chunin Exams. It happened when we entered the Forest of Death..." she went on to explain as Hiruzen stood there listening with all his attention. He stood and listened as the Uchiha heiress explained everything that had happened to them in the forest, the moment they encountered the giant snake summon to which took Naruto off and they had to fight for their very lives against a mysterious Kusa-kunoichi. She went into detail of how overwhelmingly powerful the kunoichi had been. How she had trashed her and Sakura to such a level that the kunoichi couldn't have possibly been a candidate for being chunin when she had such skill.

Hiruzen stood there as Sasuko went on to explain when she was about to fall and give up Naruto arrived and from there on the trashing they received from the kunoichi changed.

"It was..." she hesitated for a moment before glancing at Naruto. "...it wasn't a battle between shinobi at that point Hokage-sama. It was a battle...between monsters. I'd never seen Naruto _so angry_ before until that moment. He didn't use any jutsu or anything, it was just raw physical strength, and the usage of that..._chakra_.'' she suppressed the shiver that went down her spine as she remembered that. "He moved so fast shockwaves exploded around him, every time he swung his hand trees were uprooted and gouged the earth, and every time he let out a yell it sounded more like the roar of a lion and I swear I'm not lying when his yells let out shockwaves of their own as it sent that kunoichi through multiple trees." she said whilst Sakura trembled upon remembering that battle.

Hiruzen frowned in concern, from what Sasuko was saying it would seem the the chakra from the Kyuubi was being called forth from Naruto like it had his mission in Wave. From Kakashi's report he had felt an 'ominous feeling' that was similar to that of the Kyuubi's chakra. If this had happened again then Hiruzen could understand where the display of such power could come from as in the past Kushina had shown such reckless yet destructive power when using the bijuu's chakra in her genin days. However the difference between Naruto and Kushina was of a different sort just because of the fact that.

Uzumaki Naruto was a mystery even without the Kyuubi's power. Ever since the boy was born he was prone to random moments of mysterious displays of either showing a maturity that far exceeded even himself, or when situations called for it he'd somehow or someway completely annihilate his enemies in such a way that it still baffled Hiruzen to this day.

_'**That **night in particular has to be the most puzzling of all.'_ Hiruzen scowled as he remembered the night that had changed everything. That day when it seemed Naruto had finally gotten some form of love only for it to be violently ripped from him. And in turn resulted in...

"_No one will harm those I love. Let my body stand as a testament to that fact. I will not fall. I will stand tall, and my voice will be remembered. Burn this into your mind, I am no Hero to be praised nor am I a mere sword to be used. I am that which will bring calamity to anyone that wishes harm on those I love."_

Words long forgotten came back for the briefest moments cause a tremble of worry to worm up his spine before the aging kage mentally subdued such thoughts. Outwardly he remained completely calm though as he listened to what was being said to him.

"But throughout the entire thing he fought for _us_ he was fighting in such a manner to protect us from that kunoichi. He acted as both a rampaging animal, but a shield to protect us from her. Then, she did something to him...to both Naruto and I." she said frowning as she clutched at her collarbone to which Hiruzen's eyes narrowed before glancing at Kakashi discreetly which the man simply gave a subtle nod.

"_It will be dealt with."_

The message understood between the two men Hiruzen looked back at the Uchiha. From what he understood so far then it would appear his previous suspicions about his wayward student Orochimaru infiltrating the village had been correct. His first thought had been because the man had been after the Sharingan which was why he confronted Team 7 in the Forest. However, now that he knew what had happened he began to wonder why Orochimaru had marked Naruto. It could have been because the boy was an Uzumaki and due to their renowned physical longevity and healing capabilities. Along with that, Naruto was the son of both Namikaze Minato, a genius like none other when being a shinobi and his mother Uzumaki Kushina being the best Fuinjutsu expert that no one in her life time could have matched her expertise. Making even Jiraiya's skills seem like an amateur and she had been the one who _taught_ Minato about Fuinjutsu.

There was little to doubt that Orochimaru saw the potential in Naruto which was why he must have marked him with the Curse Mark as well, but from what he had seen it was a much different variations then the ones he's seen in his years.

_'Perhaps it was an experimental one Orochimaru had yet to use, and decided to use it on Naruto to see if his Uzumaki longevity could withstand it?'_ that was the only plausible reason he could come up with to understand the insanity that ran through the mind of his former student. The mark usually always killed the bearer as they couldn't withstand the torment they had to suffer through to benefit from whatever power they could gain from it. Anko has been a good example of what someone had to suffer through because of the mark to seal that, a prototype of the thing had been incredibly difficult to do without a true Fuinjutsu expert to deal with it.

_'It's a miracle that Sasuko can perform basic motor functions.'_ he thought as he looked at the Uchiha. The mark she had was the first true form of the mark he'd ever seen. The completed result if he had to guess, but the young Uchiha showed remarkable resilience if she could undergo it's trials and come out relatively stable.

_'...But then maybe her resilience to it has something to do with Naruto. Their friendship goes far beyond the academy...that is until **that** incident.' _The Hokage thought with a frown before mentally clearing his thoughts on the matter.

Still it's incredibly difficult to stop the Curse Mark in it's tracks, and to deal with the real life functioning mark was a whole other matter. There was a possible yet untested method to temporarily sealing it, a seal created as an off-shoot from one of Kushina's own Fuinjutsu spiritual bindings. However, the seal was only as strong as the will of the bearer. If their will weakened the seal would deteriorate until it had completely lost all power.

_'However, I believe Sasuko will be strong enough to bear it. The question here is, what about Naruto's mark?'_ there was little he could say about it as he had yet to see it for himself, but seeing as Naruto was still in the state he was in he believed it to be very different mark from the rest he had seen.

The question, however, is what kind of curse mark was it?

Glancing back to Sasuko who had trouble meeting his gaze at this point he spoke.

''And? After that do you remember anything else?" he questioned only for her frown to deepen. That's when Sakura finally stood to speak.

"I..I'll take over Sasuke." she said making the Uchiha wince at the fake name before giving a nod as she went back to staring at Naruto.

Turning her attention to her Hokage she swallowed the nervous lump in her throat before explaining what had happened afterwards. How she dragged both Naruto and Sasuke to a giant tree's hollow to try and help them recover. From there she went on to explain her encounter with the Oto team, and how they were only there to kill Sasuke. From there she went on to explain the timely intervention of Team 9's Rock Lee saving her from certain death. From there she went on to say about Team 10 also coming in to aid her by stopping one of the Oto shinobi from killing her.

"It was then Sasuke woke up, and he-_she_ started to tear the Oto genin apart. Her chakra was different though it felt darker somehow.'' she said making Sasuko look down in contemplation over that fact. Something that wasn't missed by either Kakashi or Hiruzen. "But when she was just about to kill them...Naruto started to writhe in pain." she said getting their attention whilst Sasuko merely scowled at that.

"We didn't know what happened Hokage-sama, but when we looked at him his body was engulfed in cyan fire. He was squirming in so much _agony_ that-'' she choked back a sob before continuing. "...the fire around his body seemed to burn at his flesh and the mark on his collar bone like Sasuke's was flaring up, but it changed color to the very cyan that was engulfing his body, but then...then-"

**SLAM!**

"Hokage-sama!"

The sound alerted the occupants in the room, and they turned to look to see it was one of the Hyuga Medical Nin put on Naruto's recovery. However, from looking at the man they coiuld all tell he was extremely panicked, and seeing a _Hyuga_ in such a state raise a red flags to both Hiruzen and Kakashi.

''What is it Kira-san? Has something changed in Naruto's recovery?" he asked, whilst Sakura and Sasuko looked from the Hyuga to the completely prone Naruto and the other panicking medical nin. Kakashi though narrowed his lone eye as trepidation began to fill every part of his body.

The Hyuga shook for a moment, his eyes glancing to his patient before looking back at the Hokage. Then, he uttered the words that would ultimatey send the entire world hurling into the great fires of Wars.

"No Hokage-sama...it's...the boy's chakra...his whole network..._it's gone_._"_

**OwO**

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

"Oi, how long you planning to lay there?"

The whiskered visage of one Uzumaki Naruto twitched and scrunched up as bodily functions seemed to begin returning to his body. What felt like the longest sleep he'd ever had had also left him with a severe case in a loss of basic motor functions, and most feeling in his body. He felt that certain numbness running throughout his arms, hands, legs and feet. As blood, or in this case the mental figurative form of it, flowed once again through him he felt the almost ticklish sensation on the tips of his fingers and toes.

However, that's when he also began to sense the atmosphere outside his body. Basic survival instinct of a trained shinobi and years of his childhood honed this sensation of his to such a degree he was able to sense sense anything down to the smallest insect that had an ounce of chakra. However, his body twitched once he began to feel for his surroundings.

Yet that was the problem.

He sensed _nothing_.

There was no air, no warmth nor cold. No light nor darkness. No chakra or any sort of energy from the forests of his home. He couldn't feel the dirt beneath him, he couldn't feel the grass swaying underneath his hands, or the scent of _anything_. It was almost like he was waking up in some sort of abyss, or a really really deep hole.

"C'mon, are you gonna keep laying there? We have stuff to do ya'know!"

His brow twitched as a loud and annoying voice kept echoing in his skull. Though he knew he was being a bit of a hypocrite in that regard, he still found it too obnoxious and tried to tune it out the best he could.

"Hah! You call me obnoxious? You're one to talk you snot nosed brat!" the voice sounded almost childishly annoyed...which disturbed him more than he cared to admit.

_'Don't answer the voice Naruto. Don't do it. Don't you fucking dare do it or you will be truly and utterly insane!'_

Then he felt a nudge on his head, someones foot no doubt. The twitching in his brow grew as a tick mark began to grow on his forehead. Temper rising he turned his head away and waved off the foot.

"Look, you can ignore me all you like, but we got some things to discuss you and I. Don't you remember Naruto? The Chunin Exams? The Kusa Kunoichi? Your teammates? Your friends?..._Don't you remember Mikoto and Sasuko?_"

Azure eyes snapped open at _those _names before memories began to flood his mind. Memories of a night he'd known to be the worst day of his life of every year that he lived. The day of his 6th birthday, a night he was always held away in his home to avoid the festivities of the Kyuubi Festival and the angry or drunk villagers. Then his memories went to those _two _that had been the light in his life. A warmth he craved, a warmth he had always yearned for as a child, a warmth he'd only felt from other children whom had families of their own.

**Family.**

_A beautiful woman with long black hair smiled down at him. Her coal black eyes seemed to glow in the cloudless full moon sky as she held his hand with her own while latched onto her leg was a little girl that was his age. Her appearance near identical to the woman, but she was much more shy, yet curious of him enough to smile at him._

"Mikoto-kaa-san, Sasuko-chan" he uttered under his breath before memories began to take form and his face set into a scowl as _**that**_ replayed through his mind. The night of his 6th birthday had been a night that had been such a traumatic event in his early life that as far as he was aware that memories of it and before that had been wiped completely. However, it would seem that it would be the contrary to that belief.

''So, you finally deciding to get your act together?" the voice finally made itself known to Naruto who finally decided to stand up as he took in his surroundings.

"Look I don't who you think you are but-"

What he saw literally made his jaw drop.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I TTE'BAYO?!"

...Yeah that was the general consensus on Naruto's thoughts at that moment.

Though it would be hard to blame the young man as he beheld his surroundings with a state of shock and awe. His blue eyes saw nothing but darkness. However twinkling stars in the darkness littered every feasible corner in his sight. It resembled the very night sky he'd always seen in Konoha. A place of mystery that no human had ever reached.

_Nor would they ever reach if they continue this endless cycle of bloodshed._

A frown marred his face as that stray thought ran through his mind. However, his eyes soon caught something that made him lose balance in his legs and he fell to to the ground in a heap. His eyed widened as his eyes looked up into what seemed like the center of this place, and what he saw was a spectacle to truly behold.

He saw a total of 5 floating suns, he could only describe them as such, before his eyes. Each one a different color then the last and each one having a feature that set itself apart from the others. The first one, the gold sun had strange black markings around it's corner with what looked like six arms on it's side. The second, iridescent sun had 9 flowing tail appendages. The third cyan sun had 2 angelic wings coming of it. The fourth was a giant sun of a monochrome shade that looked like had chains wrapped around it's edges. The fifth and final one which was situated in the center of them all was like the first one as it was gold, but intermixed into it was outlines of black, red, blue, and multitudes of different colors. However, the one feature on this one that confused him the most was the strange looking crown situated on top of the sun.

Yet the strange thing he saw was the 4 suns surrounding the "Crowned Sun" he called it was connected to it by a stream that the inner sun seemed to absorb into itself.

"...Okaaay...what the hell is going on here?" he muttered under his breath as he eyed the spectacle before him.

That's when he sensed the other presence that was with him.

Eyes widened his turned around, his eyes narrowed and in spite of the situation he was in he put up a guarded stance as he eyed the stranger before him.

And he had to say, people that said he dressed strange haven't seen this guy.

He looked at the man standing before him. He appeared to be at least in his early twenties with spiky brown hair with two locks that framed his face wrapped up. Around his forehead was a black forehead protector and a light-colored kimono with magatama adorned around the collar. Underneath he wore a black full-body suit while strapped to his hip was a simple looking sword while on his back was a shakujō staff. The man's brown eyes seemed to stare at him in both stern amusement and firmly reigned in annoyance that belied his age.

Now most people who saw such a strange man would have reacted in many ways, but for the most part they'd be cautious of the man if no outright hostile due to his appearance alone. Most people would even attack once they saw his weapons.

However, Uzumaki Naruto wasn't like most people. Though considered brash by many of his generation he wasn't by any means stupid or lacking in common sense. It was just for most of his life he preferred not to use it because he just didn't care. Mikoto had taught him as such to always try and be courteous to others, and he'd be damned before ignoring her principles.

That didn't mean he'd act on them though.

"Oi, your the teme that woke me up. So? If you're here then start explaining what the hell is going on." he said making the man blink at Naruto's crude choice of words before scratching the back of his head before giving a sheepish chuckle.

_Woah deja vu..._

"Hehe yeah I guess anyone would be a bit cranky being woken up like you did, but the situation calls for it. Let me introduce myself Naruto, my name is Ōtsutsuki Asura and I think I should begin by saying this." he said before his face went devoid of emotion.

"_As of this moment, you are dead Uzumaki Naruto." _

* * *

**So ends the chapters. As always questions should be sent in a PM or in a review.**

**Also to the reviews from last chapter. I do have plans for remakes for older stories such as Hellwing Naruto and possibly Missing Anbu Commander. Though details of which for both are gonna be my little secret.**

**Now off to bed.**

**Ja'ne.**


	5. Reflections of a Shattered Mirror

**Well after playing the game I've finally got a grasp on what needs to be done. That being said some stuff has changed on what I've planned originally except for a few things. I'll just let you know beforehand, there will be character deaths. If you are not fond of that I advise for you to stop reading now.**

**With that said let us begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Final Fantasy XV, or Final Fantasy VII and other media elements used in this story.**

* * *

"_In the beginning there was only darkness, but then the gentle and kind Mwynn brought forth light into existence. That light is what brought dispelled the eternal darkness and brought forth life. It is that light which must be protected. It is that light which you embody, and for that reason you must rise to bring balance to a world that only knows darkness. But you've already realized this haven't you, O King of Light?" ~?_

**Rise of the King: Naruto Lucis Caelum**

**Chapter 4: Reflections of a Shattered Mirror**

_Death..._

How do you begin to explain death? How does one describe the natural occurrence that happens to everyone and everything that has a soul? Is it a means to an end? Is it just a natural thing for the cycle to continue on normally? How does one _truly_ explain that which is death itself? For that matter, what happens when one denies death's cold touch? What about those people? Whom are they? How and why should they refuse death? What makes them different from the rest of mankind?

The Elemental Nations, the singular super continent on a single lone planet, a seemingly small insignificant star among a ocean of others, knew death all too well. Death loomed over the planet like a veil, it was the pitch darkness that would come to take them in the moments they least expected it or knew it was coming and either embraced it or tried to allude it's grasp. Death was all encompassing, it came in and out without even an iota of it's existence being registered.

The Elemental Nations was a single world that had come to know death all too well. It had been the end all and be all of the endless cycle humans of the planet came to after chasing after their own desires or dreams. Those that were too ambitious started wars causing the genocide and slaughter of immeasurable lives on all sides. Those too absorbed in their greed and lust would enact their power to expand their influence which would result in the destruction of entire nations and states leading to poverty which led to anger, then hatred, then violence, and then ultimately they would meet the end of the line which is death.

However, while there have been many cases of people dying in hundreds of thousands of different ways and rarer still to those that have alluded to death itself. What happens when something _not_ in the system happens. A hiccup in the natural order that went against the very balance of all creation itself?

_What do you do when someone tells you that you've died?_

In any of the circumstances of when you die there isn't gonna be someone on the other side to tell you that you've died. You just lay down, close your eyes and breathe your last for the last time; that's all there is to it. When you've been diagnosed with an incurable disease doctors will tell you of you an estimated amount of time you have left; that's what can happen. However, when you die, it is common belief by many that when you die you just surrender your body to the earth and your soul goes to be judged by the Court of the Gods.

That was the common belief, and even more religious folk suggested that those of judged worthy by the Gods would be reincarnated into a new life in a different time. Many Buddhists monks and Shinto Priests and Priestesses all shared that one common belief that your soul belonged to the Heavenly realm from whence it originated, and when the mortal vessel the soul inhabited died out the soul would return to the specific deity that soul came from. That ideal for normal every day citizens is what kept some going in spite of the chaotic world they live in. If they just stayed loyal and faithful to their Gods then they would be blessed with a better life.

Shinobi on the other hand had a bit of a different outlook on death and the afterlife. To be a shinobi was to essentially walk hand in hand with death of every moment of your life. The moment you swore your life to that of a Kage or take up a headband for a village meant your life would always be in danger. No matter how secure you may think you are you still lived among others that were essentially glorified mercenaries that wouldn't hesitate to kill the other if the reason was good enough.

Shinobi were cynical in that regard. They viewed life as fickle and fleeting. They take lives without a moments hesitation. Life was as sacred to them as to the weight of ryo that they could be bought off of. Nothing was truly sacred to these people nor to the Kage's they served. If they were paid enough or if it proved to be a big beneficial boon to their village then they would happily slaughter an entire village of innocents or destabilize an entire nation or state for that extra bit of territory and money. If contracted by a daimyo then they were obligated to do anything to earn that Lords favor, and if it meant having to kill the offspring of the previous lord so that the current lord could remain in power than they would strangle the child with it's own mother's intestines if they were so inclined.

Regular everyday citizens even viewed shinobi as more monstrous than the very bijuu themselves. They were beings of darkness, nocturnal monsters at night that hide in the flesh of a mortal by day.

But then what happens when a _shinobi_ denies death even when one is already truly dead? Some would theorize that they would come back as an Oni or a demon of darkness. Perhaps they would be swallowed up by their own regret or sins and become something akin to an abomination. No one truly knew because it hadn't ever happened before.

However, in this particular case, what if it wasn't just any shinobi, but a young man whose very soul denied the authority of death? A young man whose very being was ordained before the time of his conception to save the world from a living nightmare, but his death destroyed that predestined path before him?

Creation begins to unwind. The stage that was set begins to fall apart. The chessboard splinters and the pieces fall into disarray.

And as chaos is unraveled unto the war-torn star, an emergence of a singular light will pierce through that veil of darkness. That single light will shine like a star among a lonesome black night. It would be majestic and terrifying in it's splendor. It would a light not to be ignored. It's existence brought forth the anger and wrath of the darkness to kneel before it, and all those who stood to oppose it would bear witness to it's absolute authority.

"_...Thou Providence...shall commence."_

**OwO**

"_Screw. You."_

That was the first words that came out of Naruto when he heard this strange looking old guy suddenly tell him that he was dead. Who in the world did that? Who was that stupid? Perhaps he was being a bit too calm with this, but for the life of him, or whatever else there was left of him, Naruto just didn't care at the moment.

The old guy who called himself Asura stood there with his slack jaw at Naruto's response. His mouth tried to make words, but nothing came out and Naruto just stared at him like he was just a creepy old dude.

"E-excuse you?" the man responded, surprise and bewilderment painting his features.

Naruto narrowed his eyes before crossing his arms. An annoyed expression crossing his whiskered visage.

"I said _screw you_ old man. I don't know what your game is, but to say I'm dead? I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm not gonna die till I become Hokage, you got that?!" he proclaimed to the man who just stood there staring at him his mouth agape for a few moments until he blinked and his slight surprise instantly vanished into a facade of indifference.

For a moment nothing was said between the two, Asura and Naruto were stuck with their deadlock staring with one another, firm brown orbs met defiant yet equally strong blue eyes. That is until something occurred within the confines of which Naruto stood upon. Words spilled forth from Asura's mouth in a way that had a strange effect on the being that was Uzumaki Naruto. In that single realm where everything and nothing mattered the words Asura spoke caused a ripple that shattered all false pretenses the existence that Uzumaki Naruto had conjured for himself.

"You and I both know that is a _lie_. A fabrication of what you want people too see so that they don't see what lay underneath." he said causing Naruto's eyes to widen. Not only because of what the man said, but at the very depths of his soul he knew this man was merely speaking the _truth._

"That's...that's not true!" he replied strongly though. He denied it, but it didn't even faze the man due to the hesitation in the boys voice.

Asura continued unfazed from Naruto's reply, "You played the part of a joker, a trickster to make other people acknowledge your existence. You play jokes on people and yourself so people will laugh even if it's at you. However, as you and I stand here today, I will say this now. As Uzumaki Naruto, you _died_ with a life of nothing, but masks and deception. You hid in the shadows, hiding who you were, the Naruto that was born on _that night_." his word were firm and unrelenting as they caused Naruto's eyes to widen more and more.

"O-Oi..."

"After that night you put up a mask to hide what you were. The night Mikoto was hurt trying to protect you. When she was put into a coma due to her injuries and the mental and emotional scarring done to Sasuko changed you, Naruto. You can try to deny it all you want, but you can't deny it to _me_, for I was there and I _saw_ what you turned into to protect them." he continued, his words were like swords piercing into Naruto's body.

The blonde was shaking at this point, the bangs of his unkempt spiky gold hair shadowing his eyes which betrayed his own surging emotions on the matter.

"S-shut up..."

Asura wasn't even close to being done as he strolled around Naruto's quivering form. "The Naruto I saw had become a cold, yet firm entity. He couldn't even be called _human_ nor was he a monster either. No, the Naruto I saw that day was like...like a _sword. _You stood before the adversity of such overwhelming odds with an air of supreme authority. You were cold, firm, yet majestic like that of a well made blade. Your words brought them all to kneel before you, and in the end it was you who decided their fates that night." He said causing Naruto to shake even more, but Asura ignored this in favor of berating the blonde.

"_Naruto...you killed them_. In the scenario of which you were about to lose the only bond of love you had you threw aside all caution to the wind and let loose your most base instinctual desire to _protect _take over. You remember don't you? You killed them naught with the chakra of the Kyuubi, but..."

It was in that moment something occurred. A phenomena within a phenomena itself. Where death was all too encompassing, where reality was all too real, an object that did not and _should not exist_ was given life.

"_O King my King~, let thee Light awaken thou monarch from the eternal dream, and let thine light banish thee darkness away." _Words echoed within the realm of which Naruto and Asura stood upon, but both seemed to be unaware of it.

_Suuu~_

Asura's eyes narrowed when he felt the sudden change in atmosphere. His berating of the blond stopped in favor of watching the said blond and what he saw inwardly made him smile.

Naruto's trembling just _stopped_ and through the bangs of his hair a single blue stared at Asura with naught more than a passive emotion of fleeting annoyance. However, unlike his usual deep blue eyes that people would comment were like twin pools of the deep blue sea. This time his eyes had taken on an ethereal glow. It was like being stared upon by the eyes of something not of this world, an origin that belonged to something incredibly alien, and what Asura saw in those ethereal glowing orbs of azure was many things. Things that brought a shiver to his whole existence.

_Absolute Authority._

_Power Unrivaled._

_An existence that defied reality._

_A soul that stood defiant in the face of the Gods._

_It was an existence fit to rise above the chaos..._

_...and rule in the **Light.**_

_'Ah...it seems he has finally awakened.'_ Asura thought to himself with grim acceptance before he saw the impossible become possible.

It was like the shattering of a thousand mirrors took place around the immobile Naruto. Shards of glass circled around Naruto until a single phantasmal shape began to appear in a translucent shade of blue. It was hard to make out until it began to take form, life was breathed into it's vessel did it take true form.

It was a simple katana at first glance, but then as it spun to life and the blade was somehow drawn from it's sheathe without the aid of the blond himself Asura became more aware of the blades design. The scabbard was pitch black, made out of some form of lacquered wood with ornate designs going down to the bottom of the scabbard. Tied around the top end of the scabbard itself was a golden sageo tied around it. The blade itself was incredibly sharp, even to Asura who wasn't all that much of an expert with weapons could tell how _sharp_ that blade was. It was unnatural even due to the blueish tint coming off the edge of the blade. It was almost like it was cutting through the wind, molecules, atoms and even distorting reality itself. The handle was wrapped in black and white material while the guard was an oval shape while inscribed onto the guard was octagonal.

Asura didn't have any further time to marvel at the blade though because as soon as it took form it and the scabbard flashed into Naruto's hands.

And what happened next shocked the youngest son of the Rikudo Sennin.

There wasn't an iota of what came next, no sound, no scent, no shift in the wind, or even in a change in stance from the blonde.

Naruto just vanished, no he _warped,_ his body moved so fast his form distorted from the reality, space, and time of where they stood leaving only a phantom of where he had been.

Then he felt it, more like _thousands of times felt it_, the blade of the katana slashing, stabbing, cutting, eviscerating his body faster than he could possibly perceive. It happened all so fast, faster than he catch. Even though he didn't have a physical body, the attacks were still inflicted upon his _soul. _Still he'd bet all the ryo he once had his older brother Indra wouldn't have been able to see what happened.

_Shhcink~_

_'Hiiiieeehhh~'_ Asura wailed within his mind when he felt the cold edge of the blade slide onto his neck. His eyes trailed down to the blade, he dare not take a breath, before looking to the wielder of said blade, and what he saw made him pale considerably.

Those ethereal azure orbs were staring straight at him now. Fully taking in his existence unlike before when he wasn't even serious about him. However, now was an entirely different story. Naruto's face was void of any emotion, but his eyes radiated a tempered glare that displayed his full awareness of Asura. Shards of that strange power swirled around the blond before ethereal blue swords formed around Asura from all sides.

"_You have my attention now, spirit."_

…

…

_'Scary! scary! scary! scary! scary!scary!scary!scary!'_

Honestly. This was the most terrifying thing Asura had ever seen and he had bore witness to Indra's perfect Susanoo. His father's power to reshape the planet and even the destructive power of the Bijuu themselves. However, this was entirely different. It wasn't about the factor of power being displayed, it was the mere existence of this thing called _Naruto. _Of whom was his direct descendant had turned out to be much more than just another poor victim of a bloody brother feud from centuries past.

Being stared down by those ethereal blue orbs with those swirling iridescent shards spinning around the blonde. The realm of darkness around them and the colored suns behind the blonde only added to the overall terror Asura felt when he looked upon the one who bore all this.

_'Even though he's only scratching the surface, there is so much power in this boy...what is this child?'_ he thought before he finally calmed himself so that he could speak. Better not make the boy wait lest he actually find a way to harm him.

"Seeing as you've _woken up_ I think it's my turn for explanations, eh?" he said only to flinch when the edge of the blade mystically started to glow an ethereal azure. Looking to the blonde Asura swallowed the lump in his throat when he saw the passive gaze the boy was giving him.

"_You can start by telling me who you are, Asura."_

**OwO**

When the higher echelon of Konohagakure's political leadership mentioned the "auditorium" some would believe it to be the room in the Shinobi Academy used to address it's students and faculty. However, what many didn't know was that what they meant by auditorium, they meant of something else entirely. A secret known to rare few, and rarer still to those whose loyalty couldn't be put to question.

The auditorium of the Konoha Shinobi Academy wasn't actually considered apart of the Academy building itself. During the building of the village itself, it had been Uchiha Madara who proposed the idea of an auditorium to be built between the Academy and the Hokage Tower. Only it was built 20 feet underground and the only way to enter it was from a hidden entrance from the Hokage Tower. The auditorium was built from Madara's idea as the true shelter for both Konoha's citizens and shinobi in case of total annihilation from war. It was made just in case, and it acted as the perfect shelter as well for the Hokage Monument "shelter" was merely a decoy just because nearly everyone who'd ever fought against Konoha knew they would send their citizens to the Monument to hide.

But then that in itself was a horrible idea because it would only take a few good Doton users to simply destabilize the mountain or a few well placed explosive tags could completely destroy the mountain itself.

It was for that reason the auditorium was built, fueled by Madara's idea and the surprising aid from Uzumaki Mito they were able to build and fortify the auditorium into a shelter to house the entire village should it ever come down to it. The "auditorium" was in reality an expansive underground channel of chambers that spanned nearly every square inch beneath Konoha's foundations. Used for times of impending war, or kami forbid the annihilation of Konoha, then its purpose would be utilized.

If there ever came a point to where the auditorium was compromised through either the entrance being found or an inside mole let other villages know then there were security measures put in place to stem the panic. There were underground tunnels connection to the underground shelter that led far out from Konoha itself and nearing the borders of Hi no Kuni. Pathways and tunnels all connected in a way to distort enemy pursuers while allowing everyone enough time to flee.

However, over the years it was also used by the Sandaime Hokage as a means to speak directly to his shinobi forces. To instill into them the motivation they would need in times of war. It was this place he used to speak to those went into the Second and Third Shinobi World War. To inspire them and give them the motivation when going into war. It was better this way then too simply relay his words to respective Jonin's to give to their chunin and genin comrades/students.

It was for that reason Hiruzen stood inside the main chamber. His eyes looking down upon the entire chunin and genin shinobi he had that were within Konoha's walls. He saw some chattering with their friends and teammates while others were looking at him expectantly with their respective Jonin sensei's and captains. The chamber they were in was the central hub for mostly the citizens that would be stationed in times of a village wide invasion. However, with the current situation Konoha was in he felt it was time he addressed the next generation of Konoha's military force directly so that they were truly aware of what was happening.

Though as he stared at them he couldn't help the smallest jerk at his heart when he didn't see the spiky blonde whom had become his own grandson in all, but blood.

_'But in his condition it's a miracle he's even alive right now. Tsunade had better be here by tomorrow or so help me I'll make do on my threat.'_ Hiruzen coldly thought to himself. As much as he cared for Tsunade, her past actions had left little to be desired, and he had done enough for her. He had been lenient on her due to both her little brother Nawaki and lover Dan dying in war, and let her leave the village to grieve. However, it had been years since than and Konoha needed her, and whether she liked it or not she will come back into active service again even if he had to pull her ass through the gates of Konoha himself.

Because he could, he had done it before when she was a rowdy teenager.

Taking his mind off that matter he looked to the crowd, and flared a little bit of chakra.

The effect was immediate, the entire crowd of shinobi instantly went silent as their attention swiftly went to their leader. Decades of being Hokage, Squad Leader, Anbu Captain and War General had made Hiruzen completely immune to the attention he received and simply stared back at his shinobi with a stern expression.

"I'm sure you are all wondering why you've been called here today. As you all are no doubt aware of, there was a recent incident a couple of hours ago within the Forest of Death during the chunin exams. None of us are sure what happened in there as information is sketchy at best, but since that incident something has occurred in our world that I was afraid wouldn't happen again, at least for another couple of years." He said before looking over his forces. This was it, this was where he would essentially shatter their dreams of being a shinobi of Konoha. This would be where he would essentially tell them all he would be sending them off too war. Not with just Shinobi though, as recent intel put it, it would be a war on all fronts.

A War of the Great Lords.

A War of the Elements.

Something that hadn't occurred since ancient times far before the Warring Clans period. It went as far back to the fabled time of the Rikudo Sennin's time some would say.

The reason for the length of time between than and now was because of the difference in scale. A war with Shinobi usually involved the warring major countries own shinobi villages and just a few minor countries that would be inevitably drawn into the conflict. In terms of scale with the world itself, it was pretty small all things considered.

However a War of the Great Lords was a whole other different type of war. It didn't just involve a few countries, if the tales were true than a war of that scale would swallow up the entire world. No country would be left unscathed, Daimyo's of the major countries would amass their armies in the _millions, _pulling up century old documents dating back to the founding of the Shinobi villages to contract them to aid in the war. Mercenaries would be on the rise due to the potential world wide conflict bringing back the Industry of War.

Samurai, Shinobi and Mercenary alike would all be fighting in this war. A true World War that would encompass the entire continent.

And he was about to send these kids, _children in every regard,_ to fight in such a War.

…

…

_'Kami I hate my job.'_ Hiruzen cursed before deciding to continue.

"12 hours ago right after the incident we have been getting recent reports from our sources in the field. This information has led to drastic measures needed to be taken as of late. As we speak, Konoha had been put under Yellow alert and all foreign shinobi have been ordered to leave our village within 24 hours lest they be considered POW's. All citizens within Konoha have been ordered to close shop and return home until said otherwise. All available Konoha Jonin and ANBU have been directed into the proper protocols. Which leads to why I have had your Jonin Captain or Sensei's lead you here, I am here to inform you of something that will ultimately change your lives forever." he said preparing himself for the inevitable.

"As of now until the unforeseeable future, Konoha as a whole has been contracted by Ryoske-sama, the Lord Daimyo of Hi no Kuni for an upcoming conflict with the other nations. As of this moment, Konoha has been enlisted into a World War of the Great Lords." he said and went silent as he gauged the reactions of his shinobi for a moment, and least to say he wasn't disappointed.

Faces went into shock, confusion and some in terror at such a notion. Some not understanding what that meant while others were trying not to hyperventilate after realizing what kind of terror that notion really was. The Jonin were excellent in keeping their composure and even some seasoned Chunin had remained stone faced. However the newest of the chunin and rest of the genin were not as composed not that he could blame them.

Panic began to settle in as chatter erupted among them, and among them Hiruzen gazed over to the newest batch of Genin, and for a moment he felt his heart ache yet he remained stalwart. This was his duty as their leader and while he saw their apprehension, confusion and some outright horror at such a thing, he had a duty to uphold.

It was as his sensei told him.

"_Listen Saru, to be Hokage is to be a beacon, a symbol of hope that your people can look to for guidance. They look to me in times of strife and despair. As Hokage, it is my duty to inspire and lead them and when times are darkest as Hokage we should always lead by example. They serve us and in return the Hokage should always provide them with a semblance of hope that tomorrow will be better."_

_'Sensei always was pretty good with words.'_ Hiruzen thought with a nostalgic smile before he looked upon his shinobi and with a surging fire he spoke. His voice booming over the panicked chatter of his shinobi.

"_However!_ As Hokage I want to insure to each and every one of you that while the future may be bleak now, we will _persevere!_ Let me remind you all of one very important lesson. A lesson that all of us should keep in our hearts and always remember when we feel like we're going to fall. We are the shinobi of Konohagakure, each of us all have different dreams and desires, but the moment you were born under the great tree of Konoha we inherited the will of our founders and ancestors. The Will of Fire burns brightly in all of us. It is what sustains us as a people, it is through that will that we are all family, we are all connected and for the next generation to live in a better and brighter future it is us who must endure this world war, and we will do so _happily_ if only for the generations to come! We. Are. Konoha. Shinobi!" h words carried so much weight that it lifted the spirits of his shinobi and predictably what followed eased the guilt in Hiruzen's heart.

''YAAAAAH!" the road from the crowd was so loud, so strong it seemed to cause the whole auditorium to tremble from their passion. Their loyalty unquestioned and adoration for their Hokage was unbreakable. Their approval echoed through the whole auditorium.

...And it made Hiruzen truly feel like he had entered the depths of true despair.

Because as pretty and heartfelt he had made his words appear to be. No matter how much he meant what he said. There was no doubt to him or to those that remained stone faced through the whole thing that more than half of these shinobi would be experiencing their first true war. A war that would be encompassing the whole world. It would be a war of the world itself. A war where the realm of possibility would be put to question everyday. It wouldn't be just something concerning shinobi this time, but the Daimyo's, Samurai, and more than likely mercenaries as well.

_'Then there is the jinchūriki of the other villages to worry about. With Naruto's current condition it's very unlikely he will be able to fend off the other jinchūriki, that is if he **ever** wakes up.'_ he thought grimly.

His visit with the doctors working on Naruto along with his team had been...terrifying for him as both the Hokage and as the man who had come to take in Naruto as his own adopted Grandfather. From what they could tell so far, Naruto's current condition was nothing like they'd ever seen before. Not even the Genin Rock Lee's condition could come close to what Naruto was in.

Essentially, after whatever happen in that Forest led to Naruto going into what the doctors suggested was a comatose state. They hadn't figured out what happened yet, but whatever occurred had been so intense, so traumatic that is had somehow _broke_ Naruto's connection to the world as a living being. Worse still, as time progressed, his entire chakra network along with Naruto's incredibly huge amount of chakra simply began to vanish. His network had completely disappeared from his body and there wasn't even an ounce of Naruto's chakra in his body.

It was like staring at a empty human, a vessel without a soul, and it honestly scared Hiruzen.

Yet what scared him even more was the fact that the seal Minato used to seal the Kyuubi within Naruto on the day of his birth. The very same seal empowered by the God of Death itself.

Was _gone._

Which meant only one thing to Hiruzen.

_The Kyuubi was free._

The Shiki Fūjin was the jutsu Minato used to seal the Kyuubi that night 13 years ago. It was a Kinjutsu forbidden to ever be used unless in the most desperate of circumstances. However, once used Minato was able to seal the Kyuubi within Naruto at the cost of his and Kushina's life. That was the seal, and the only way for it to disappear is for Naruto to have died in the living world whereupon his soul would ascend to the Heavenly Realm to be judged, or that's how the tales go.

However, the strange thing was, while the seal was gone and with it most likely the Kyuubi. And with Naruto's entire chakra network and chakra gone should have truly and utterly killed him. He should be nothing more than a cold corpse on the hospital bed.

…

…

If so then why was the boy still _alive?_

It went against everything they had ever known about the connection between the human body and chakra. Without chakra the human could not survive, that was just a rudimentary fact of life. Everyone had chakra, to the strongest shinobi in the world to the tiniest little bug. Everything that lived had chakra and to not have it was just akin to be dead. Chakra was their life force, and without it than you should not be alive. That was the planetary law of this world, and to break that law was akin to being seen as something not right. A mistake, a failure in nearly every sense.

Yet, in spite of all this, in spite of losing the Kyuubi and his chakra, Naruto was still alive. He was breathing normally, his brain activity was normal if a bit higher than average and his body performed it's rudimentary functions under the state it was in.

Giving the smallest of mental sighs Hiruzen thought to himself in bemusement. _'Even now when you're not here you still accomplish to give me a headache, my boy.'_

Knowing that his thoughts had drifted for longer than he wished the aged Hokage took one more glance to his shinobi, and with a grim expression coming upon his face he spoke.

"With that said, I wish for you all to begin preparations. As of this moment Konoha has entered into total martial law and with it I am ordering you all to begin training. Train as hard as you can, push yourself above and beyond the point your body can take, and go beyond even that. Because soon, very soon we will all be jumping directly into the fire of war." he voice was stern for a moment causing many to become a bit nervous.

...Before he offered his grandfatherly smiled that he was locally known for. "Now, you are all dismissed. Jonins are to take their students back to their respective homes tonight and chunin are to do the same. Tonight I want you all to get a good nights sleep, spend time with your family because for tomorrow, Konoha prepares for _war."_

**OwO**

The sun had finally settled and the dusk of the midnight sky showed overhead for the world too see and to be mesmerized by the illumination of the full moon hanging high among the sea of stars. It was a seemingly peaceful night, one would even say it was the perfect definition of _"The Calm before the Storm"._

For it was too peaceful and that rattled the nerves of one particular young woman more than she'd care to admit. The female in question had dealt with enough hardship in her life to know that a night like this was probably the worst possible experience to have because it meant that tomorrow and many days forward would be a true living hell.

At least that was what life had taught Uchiha Sasuko in her short 12 years of living.

After the audience with the Hokage was over all the shinobi were sent back home to reflect and relax. Advised by their aged leader to spend time with their loved ones, to relish in the time they would have tonight. For tomorrow would be the start of their preparation, their training for a war none of them were truly prepared for, especially one of this magnitude.

Among these shinobi was Sasuko; while she was led away with Sakura by Kakashi he took them both home, but instead of taking her back to the district she simply asked to stay at the hospital room Naruto was given after his extensive procedure. Seeing as their was nothing they could do, literally seeing as he had no chakra or even a network to work with, they had to place him in the hospital until Tsunade came back. Personally, she didn't care who this Tsunade was, she may be a sennin, but if she couldn't do something for Naruto than she was nothing to her. No one else mattered to her at this point than two people in this village, and if the greatest medic in the world couldn't save them then that woman was of no use or of importance to her.

At least the Sandaime had the courtesy to place Naruto in the PoP or Personnel of Priority floor of the building so that only those authorized by the Hokage were allowed to enter. A place that was just as secure for the one operating room in the Hokage Tower Naruto was in moments prior to his movement. The security was, as Kakashi put it, was pretty tight due to the number of restrictions put in place. ANBU personally trained by the Soutaicho of the ANBU were personally stationed here, but were never seen unless they wanted to be seen.

...Which would be the last thing you ever saw, or that's how the rumors went.

Thankfully there was another on this floor that allowed her to be registered for this floor otherwise she'd be forbidden from coming to this floor. Though when Kakashi brought her here he made sure if she really wanted to be here, but she had made it clear there was no where else she wanted to be. Because after all, she was only following the advice of her Hokage.

"_Spend time with your family."_

"Tsk...the only family I have left is you two."

Uchiha Sasuko wasn't usually a young woman to give in to her own emotions over matters of a personal or of an affectionate nature. The only times she had ever let emotion take hold of her had been a couple of times. One had been the hatred she held for her older brother Itachi after he had slaughtered nearly the entire clan. The second had been when she was still very young and much more prone to being attached to her mothers leg most of the time. She had been timid, shy to an extent that she could have been just like Hinata in that regard.

Then there was the third time when she had ever let herself fall into her own emotions, and that was for the young man she was looking at now. Her coal orbs took in the sight of her third teammate with what looked to be a mask of indifference, but inwardly was a whole other matter entirely.

Emotions ran wild within her, half of her just wanted to leave right now so she could stave off the nightmares that she was sure would be coming back. Especially now that Naruto was in this condition. However, the other half of her just wanted to climb into his bed and cuddle up to him and hold him like they did as children. Just to make sure he was safe and by proxy she was too. That had been a quirk her mother had found to be incredibly adorable when they were young as it was something Sasuko seemingly adopted over the time she and her mother spent with Naruto back then.

Yet she couldn't help herself.

Every time he was absent she felt the world was just that much bleaker, more _darker_ than it should be. It only really started when they were children, but since _that night_ it had been made abundantly clear that Sasuko had developed a sort of trauma that could only be eased when Naruto was around. His presence was akin to that of the sun, bright, intense and illuminating. A natural phenomena that seemed to banish the darkness and chase away those nightmarish monsters that plagued her as a child.

That was the crux of the issue as well. Naruto and Sasuko's relationship was...difficult for some to understand and others to even contemplate. To begin with, when they first met had been when Mikoto had taken her to the local orphanage when she was only 3. She hadn't known why at the time, something to do with internal problems within the clan and her mothers _very vocal_ opposition which sometimes led to arguments between her and her father Fugaku. It was only later did she understand that her mother had essentially cut all ties with the Clan besides her and Itachi. She put in a divorce agreement with Fugaku and in a legal battle over custody had won Sasuko while Itachi had chosen to stay with the Clan for reasons unknown to her.

Then right after that her mother had used funds kept in her savings to buy them an apartment in the more residential district of Konoha. It was within the village and far away from the Clan Compound which allowed Sasuko to see what Konoha was really like on the inside. Although, at the time, it did lead to her becoming more timid and shy as the environment around had changed drastically from what she was used too.

But then everything changed when her mother took her to the local orphanage the next day. The day when she first met the spiky blonde haired blue eyed boy named Uzumaki Naruto.

The boy who would become her adopted brother.

Hyper-active didn't do him justice. When she first met him it was like the sun and moon in contrast. She was timid and shy while he had been outgoing and energetic. When she first saw him he had pulled her along to go and play regardless of the neutral stares or glares he received. Though that seemed to stop instantly when her mother made her presence known to them.

Apparently, Naruto was the son of a woman who had been her mothers best friend when they were young which had been why she had adopted Naruto since he had lost his parents. How that happened she didn't know, but she was happy to have him all the same cause it meant she had someone to play with.

_'Now that I think about it maybe that's why Kaa-san cut ties with the clan.'_

When Mikoto decided to adopt him, regardless of those that tried to stop her Naruto had been..._very quiet._ So quiet even that it disturbed her. He had simply stopped and stared at her mother for the longest moment. His eyes had lost a bit of light and seemed to actually _look _at Mikoto for the first time. Taking in her appearance, her smile, her voice. Yet his stare went deeper than that, it was like he been staring straight through her mortal body and into her very soul just too see what kind of person she was.

...Then he had smiled, and what a smile that had been. It was probably the biggest and brightest grin she had ever seen Naruto make before jumping into Mikoto's arms.

That had been the first time she had ever seen Naruto cry.

It was the first time she had ever seen him so _happy._

…

…

Then it all came crashing down on the night of his sixth birthday.

_They_ had come for him, to hurt him, to try and kill him.

_Blood was shed, a horrific blood curdling scream tore through the festive night sky and a deep roar ripped it's way across the village._

Then what followed was something that had left Sasuko in a state of mental and emotional trauma for days on end afterwards.

_Death._

_There was so much death._

_Shards of glass tore through the night sky, reflecting the full moon._

_A single sword flew, a slash that seemed to go tear through the fabric of reality itself._

_A plethora of blood was shed, soaking the ground, the trees, and the very air itself._

_The smell of copper filled the air as bodies were literally reduced to nothing but a blood red mist._

_A boy stood alone amid the field of slaughter, ethereal blue glowing eyes stared at her and her mother with naught more than the truest form of love that the boy could comprehend._

"_**I...will...protect..."**_

That had been the last thing she remembered before blacking out.

The next time she woke up had been in a hospital bed 4 days after the incident. The first thing she saw had been the face of the saddened face of the Sandaime Hokage. He had explained to her, what little her young mind could understand back then, that a group of insurgents had planned an organized attack on Naruto that night. It had been something they had been unprepared for, and he and his ANBU had been too late to stop what had occurred.

Her mother had been put into a coma due to the injuries she suffered.

She was taken in by her father due to her mother state.

And Naruto...

Naruto was taken into the Hokage's care and was kept as far away from her as humanly possible. The only time she saw him next had been when she entered the Academy. Even then she was kept away from him under strict orders by her father Fugaku. Ironically enough, it wasn't until Itachi had slaughtered the clan leaving only her and Mikoto alive that she was free to come back into contact with Naruto.

And yet...

_'Nice to meet ya, I'm Uzumaki Naruto!'_

_He didn't remember her._ He didn't remember the time they spent together as children. Given, she was under the genjutsu her mother placed on her long ago, and she had changed in appearance from what she had been in the past, but she figured it would be obvious. Yet it was like the first time Naruto had ever met her. Which in turn changed her somewhat, emotions trickled out of her cold exterior in the form of cold annoyance to the blonde since he didn't even know who she was.

Which had been the main reason for how she treated him in the academy, but over time that annoyance grew to become a source of endearment as time progressed. Reason being was due to the time they spent with one another in the academy reminded her of the times they played as children. Though Naruto and 'Sasuke' played the part of rivals in the academy; it was more of a facade to hide the truth.

The truth being that Naruto and Sasuko had reunited, even if it was under rather precarious circumstances.

_'Now that I think about it, why didn't Naruto remember me? He was put into Hokage-sama's care after that incident and that was the last I saw or heard of him for the next few years.'_ the thou7ght gnawed at her more than she cared to admit. And the more she thought about it, the more she was scared of finding out the answer.

Did he suffer a trauma as well that resulted in a memory loss?

Did the Hokage do something to him to forget all that happened?

...or was it because Naruto actually forgot them?

She narrowed her eyes, regardless of what the issue may have been didn't matter now. Looking at the blond she ran her hand through his spiky gold hair and for the first time in what felt like years _smiled._

"It doesn't matter anymore. You're here and I'm here, and this time I don't intend to lose you again. You and Kaa-san are all I have left..." she admitted in silence before laying her head on the bed, her eyes staring at the blond who had once been her adopted brother. The peaceful expression on his face reminding her of better and more peaceful times. Before there innocence was destroyed by a cruel world, where cruelty hadn't separated them, and where the hatred of others nearly took him away from her forever.

Taking one of his hands in hers her smile deepened before she closed her eyes.

"Wake up soon, _Naruto."_

Unfortunately, this would be one wish, one desire that could not be fulfilled.

_'Under the eternal dusk, only when the elemental star is engulfed in darkness will the King of Light awaken to destroy the cruel and corrupt from this star.'_

**OwO**

Standing amid the realm of darkness and stars, beneath the glow of the suns above them, Naruto stood there staring at the man whom called himself Asura. His ethereal blue eyes staring straight into the spirit of the man. His expression though was a mask of indifference, but on the inside he was thinking about all that he had learned. To find out the tales of the Rikudo Sennin was true was one thing, but to find out that Asura was the youngest son of the man and that he was in fact a transmigrant of Asura's spirit was a whole other matter entirely. Finding out that there was a blood feud between both Indra and Asura that was so strong it transcended time and their spirits were reincarnated into the vessels most suitable for their power was just a whole other matter.

Which come to find out, his wayward adopted sister and best friend at that, Uchiha Sasuko, was the transmigrant for Indra's power.

_'This would explain the monsters Suko-chan saw and experienced as a child. It was the damnable Curse in her blood and spirit carried over by Indra.'_ Naruto thought with a mental scowl. Though his anger surged over that fact he soon let it go for more important matters.

He remained quiet and listened until Asura was done. Analyzing all that he had been told, breaking down everything he heard to understand and to comprehend everything so that he had full grasp of the context of the situation.

Then Asura spoke once more, culminating all he said in a address to the blond.

"_You_ may deny everything I say here, but in your heart you know I speak of the truth. I am, but one of the many reflections of yourself. Thus I have seen all that you are, can, and will become. Before anything else, you need to rid yourself of all misconceptions of your own reality before you can move on with your life. You know this, don't you?" he said to his descendant who simply closed his eyes for a moment in perceived thought.

"I long ago realized that my own formulated misconceptions of a false narrative would lead me down a path of failure. I never needed you to tell me this, but I believe in what you said all the same. I chose to hide what I am, and this strange power not only for my sake, but for the sake of those I love. I wasn't ready, and I still don't think I am. I don't know what happened to me that night, but it changed me in a way I still haven't come to understand which was why I hid behind the mask of a fool, of a joker so that everyone wouldn't see the what lay underneath." he admitted making Asura smile at the blondes words.

_'Well at least he made it through the first step of accepting it.'_

But then Naruto opened his eyes once more and the glow in his eyes seemed to become sharper, like the edge of a sharpened blade ready to strike. "However, that does not mean I will simply fall in line like those before me have in this pitiful and pathetic blood feud between you and Indra. My life is my own, Mikoto-kaa-san and Sasuko-chan are all that I have so I'd sooner rip you and Indra out of our bodies and cast you out before we ever started that rivalry again." his words came out strong and fierce. He glared straight at Asura, and for a moment the spirit couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine.

He knew, somehow or someway, this boy would make due on that threat and he wasn't all that keen on such an end.

But on that matter...

Giving a chuckle Asura waved his hand causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Believe me Naruto, I'm more tired of that feud then you can possibly believe. It's lasted for so long that I've grown tired of it. However, that is not why I am here Naruto." he said making Naruto frown.

"What do you mean by that?"

Asura simply smiled sadly as he gazed from Naruto to the floating suns behind him. "While it is true you are my transmigrant, you are _much more_ than that. The reason I've appeared before you now is because, you really did die in that Forest, but your soul is stuck here in in-between the living world and the Heavenly Realm. Something occurred between the moment of when you encountered that Kusa Kunoichi and when you woke up prematurely to safe your teammates." he said causing Naruto frown to deepen.

"Yeah, that's right you never did elaborate on that. All I can remember was waking up among of green sea, but then memories of my past life as Cloud Strife began to meld into my own. I talked with Aerith, but after that...I could _feel_ my friends were danger, and I..I had to wake up. _I had to protect them._" Naruto spoke causing Asura's smile to grow grim, but he was proud of the boy nonetheless.

"And that's where the problem lies Naruto. When you and your past life as Cloud merged it occurred under circumstances that should have happened much earlier. However, an outside element conflicted with this, I do not know his name, but it was an older man possibly as old as your Sandaime Hokage. I do not know his name, but this is what he looked like." he said before conjuring a mental image of what had happened that night of his birth. Revealing an old man covered in a set of white and black robes while he held himself up with a cane, guarded on all sides by strangely masked ANBU. He stood over Naruto's crib in the hospital and his lone eye stared down at the infant blond before placing a seal directly over the seal for the Kyuubi.

Upon seeing this Naruto's scowl only deepened, but there wasn't an ounce of the anger Asura would have expected, but something else was there. It was tempered resolve of a young man that was ready and willing to go above and beyond to do what needed to be done.

"Whoever he is. _I. Will. Kill. Him."_

…

…

Asura didn't know if he should have been intimidated by that look in Naruto's ethereal blue eyes or that he should feel happy that the boy was finally starting to come into his own.

''I've no doubt you will, but that's not important right now. What is important though is what's happening to you at this very moment." he said gaining Naruto's attention.

"What do you mean?"

At this Asura sighed as he scratched his head for a moment. "You see, when the old man did that it basically halted the merge of both you and Clouds soul and thus the longer Clouds soul was stuck in limbo made his soul more and more sensitive to the Lifestream that connects both this world and the world of Gaia. When the Kusa Kunoichi attacked you and erased whatever seal was on you at the moment had the effect of not only instantly merging your soul with Clouds it always had the effect of having the entire lifestream pushed through your body." upon seeing Naruto's confusion at that he began to elaborate.

"Hm let me explain it this way." Aura held out his left hand and instantly a swirling ball of chakra formed within the palm of his hand. Once Naruto saw it he was amazed by how the whole thing was stable with how the chakra was moving in so many directions at once.

"Now imagine Clouds soul as this little orb and this..." he conjured another in his right, but this it was much bigger, but had less chakra on the inside. "..This part is your soul. So when Clouds soul was kept in stasis over time his soul began to converge with the lifestream in a way that he and it were starting to become one in essence. So much so that Clouds soul began to destabilize since he alone couldn't withhold all that power." he said and as a means to explain further the small blue orb that represented Clouds soul instantly began to grow three times the size of the other orb. Yet it only kept growing and growing and growing...

Until it began to move erratically in too many different directions and just when Naruto thought it was just about to burst Asura explained something that caught his attention.

"Just when his soul was about to burst, that Kusa Kunoichi destroyed whatever was stopping the merge, and while in the process of giving you that hickey she also caused this to essentially happen." and without another word Asura slammed the two orbs together. What occurred next wasn't a shockwave or even an explosion of power. Instead, what happened was that Clouds much larger soul was instantly absorbed into Naruto's causing the merge, but than Naruto's soul also began to change and grow in size.

It soon became so large the orb lifted up all on it's own and it floated up to the suns above them where it floated above the central sun to where it began to change into a gold color only now it was becoming intermixed with other colors. Then he saw the power within Naruto's soul began to act up before it essentially broke off from the soul and formed into another sun entirely of it's own with the only link being the tendril he saw now.

"W-w-what was that?" he asked, bewilderment all over his face, but Asura simply sighed.

"Think of it this way, the Lifestream is essentially the energy of life upon which connects both the planet Gaia and this planet. Although it's influence is much stronger on Gaia it's link was here also, but the Lifestream is still a fundamental energy the likes of which only chakra can relate to. Chakra on this planet is essentially our version of the Lifestream. Chakra is our very lifeforce, so when the Lifestream was slammed through the merging and into your body it conflicted, _violently _mind you, with your own chakra and network as a whole. This resulted in the power of the lifestream breaking off into a form of power in your body, but in result it completely destroyed your chakra network, it absorbed your chakra and converted it all into the lifestream." he said to the blond whose eyes had widened a bit by the information he was given.

While he was surprised that his chakra was gone and his entire network at that he still had a question that plagued him.

"Then what happened to the Kyuubi?" he asked to which Asura at this moment frowned as well.

"That...I don't know. I can't sense his presence in you any longer, but there is still a lingering attachment that links you both, but beyond that I cannot say for certain." and that was the truth. Kyuubi and the rest of the bijuu were his siblings in a way and while he couldn't have been there for them when he died he still felt they were his responsibility.

''I see, then is that how I died? From what I remember from the academy anyone who suffers from chakra exhaustion can go into an extreme case of exhaustion to an outright coma. But if my network and chakra are gone than would that be how I died?" he asked Asura who simply looked at the blond before shaking his head.

"No, while it did bring you close to death it wasn't the deciding factor for killing you. What you don't seem to understand is the matter of the soul itself. You see Naruto, what you underwent wasn't a reincarnation, but a fusion of souls that was simply meant to be. Two halves of the same coin that were born separately. The soul is a powerful thing, but it is also very frail and when they are shaken up to much they can be distorted and destroyed. And believe me when I say that a soul that's destroyed is a fate worse than death." his grim expression was all Naruto really needed to know how serious such a situation was.

Which was why he was a bit thankful to the Kusa Kunoichi.

"Then what happened? Don't leave out a single detail." he asked his spiritual ancestor. Asura for his part looked to Naruto before taking a glance up to the suns above them.

"To put it simply, your soul couldn't handle such a drastic event all at once and it was..._damaged_. You need only look up to see that for yourself." he pointing up to the suns above them causing Naruto's eyes to widen once he fully registered what Asura said then he looked up to the suns above them.

"...You can _not_ be serious."

"Oh, I'm as serious as I can be. Your soul was barely able to keep itself together. You see that big ole sun right there dead center of the others?" a nod "Yeah that's your soul and you may not be able to see it from here, but the damage was quite extensive. So much so that it "temporarily" vanished from existence. So, in essence _Uzumaki Naruto_ no longer exists meaning you as a person do not exist in both the living world nor that of the realm of the dead. The only reason people in your world remember you is because you are still alive in essence alone." he explained causing Naruto to frown before he looked at the other suns around what appeared to be his soul.

"Okay, that's a bit confusing, but I can roll with that. However, what's with the suns surrounding my soul? What do they represent?" he said causing Asura to frown himself.

"I'm not entirely sure myself, but if I had to wager they represent an aspect of your own power. The cyan soul seems to represent the Lifestream, but the wings on it confuses me, the gold sun with the black markings represents my power, the third iridescent one seems to somehow represent your link to Kurama due to the nine tails, but for what it means I don't know. The monochrome one with the chains around it are a complete mystery to me." he said before being interrupted by the blonde.

"Wait, who is Kurama?" he asked, perplexed at the name. Asura simply blinked before giving a sheepish chuckle.

"Ah that's right, Kurama is the true name of the Kyuubi, he, like the rest of the bijuu, were given names by my father when he split the Shinju's power into nine pieces. Although don't tell him I gave his name away he goes all tsundere over that little matter." he said with a teasing grin causing a twitch to form in Naruto's brow.

The fact Asura admitted that the great and all powerful walking natural disaster acted like a _tsundere _when it came to his name was very hard to believe.

_'Then again a lot of stuff has happened to me that people would find hard to believe.' _Naruto thought with a frown.

That said Asura's expression turned to stone as he continued. "I will say this for certain, your soul in the middle seems to represent the power you currently wield. It's a power unlike anything I've ever seen, and the only link we have to that is the sword you hold right now." he said to which the blonds frown deepened before looking down at the sheathed katana in his hand.

"That may be, but in all honesty I don't know myself. The only thing I do remember was this power awakened the night I thought I lost Mikoto-kaa-san and Sasuko-chan. I never really experimented with it and simply followed my instincts, but this sword on the other hand is a different matter." he said gripping the katana in hand.

At this Asura's curiosity was peaked, "How so?"

Sighing Naruto brought the blade up between them before it floated by Naruto's will. "On that night, this katana seemingly appeared the same time I awakened this power. I know not how or why this happened, but at the time I simply didn't care. I had a weapon, and I used it with the truest intent to _kill and protect_. Beyond that I know nothing more." it was obvious to Asura that this somehow frustrated the blonde, and he couldn't really blame him either.

There was just so many mysteries building up around him and so little time to figure them all out.

_'Well no better time than the present'_

"Well, does it have a name?" he asked causing Naruto to blink, the intensity in his ethereal blue eyes lessening somewhat before he frowned as he looked at the blade.

"I...I don't think-"

"_..m..a..o"_

Suddenly, words began to echo within his mind. A voice without a true sound spoke. Words of power spilled forth, but there was no embodiment of the voice itself.

"_Y..m..to"_

He could feel it now. Thrumming with power,_ it was calling out to him._ His eyes rested on the katana before he reached out once again and grasped the sheathed weapon. His hand gripping firmly around the wooden sheathe, his fingers tingled in a slight numbness that brought a thrill of delight up and down his spine as the words became clearer and clearer.

He had completely ignored Asura's existence entirely at this point. His fixation was completely on the katana at this point. Although it wasn't the same for Asura who was watching what was happening with a concerned frown, but he said nothing and chose to instead observe until he felt he was needed.

Naruto had taken the katana and those shards of glass seemingly appeared from nowhere before they began to spin around him. They went faster and faster as the glow in Naruto's ethereal blue eyes seemed to glow brighter and brighter before he spoke.

"This katana's name is..."

_B-boom!_

Asura flinched as the realm around seemed to echo with pure _power._ Such unbridled power that it chilled the air and caused the very fabric of space and time quiver into distortions in on themselves.

"_...Yamato, The Blade of Tradition and Power."_

…

…

Okay, if Asura had a physical body, he would literally be shitting bricks at that moment. Not because of the fact of the swords name, but it was the way Naruto said it and the expression on his face as he did so. It had been positively _cold,_ yet there was an underlying passion of endearment for the blade itself that he couldn't understand. It also didn't help the fact that the entire realm itself seemed to react as well as it had seemed to _quiver_ at the mention of it and the essence coming off the blade and off Naruto was of an unorthodox feeling. The atmosphere was nothing like that of a evil entity or even of a dark creature by any stretch of the word.

It had simply been a cold, yet firm settlement. Like the fine flattened part of a blade. It was fierce, yet majestic in its brilliance, like that of a true blue blood royal whose mere presence would part the very sea just so it wouldn't _dare_ touch such a being. The atmosphere had been commanding, yet splendidly warm, like that of a campfire or the embrace of a mother or father. Yet underneath all that, beneath all the tempting and dangerous feelings Asura felt from all that was an underlying persona.

A persona whose authority would never be questioned. Whose authority would part the skies and cause the Gods to kneel. Whose aura would send the very dregs of hell back in fright. Whose presence would banish the darkness of their corrupted world.

_Forever._

…

…

There was no words at this point. All the words Asura could say at that moment were stuck in his throat as he gazed upon the young man before him.

This moment lasted for a few moments before Naruto seemed to get a hold of himself as he finally sheathed the blade and let it fade away into a phantasmal bright blue. As it vanished Naruto cast his gaze to the silent Asura, the ethereal glow in his eyes ever prominent, now more than ever before.

"Now that we got that out of the way, perhaps you can start telling me how I can start fixing my soul?" his question asked, his eyes peered into Asura's own for the longest moment before the man regained his composure and sighed.

"Well, you see, to fix the kind of damage done to your soul is gonna take a lot of work. In fact, it'll take more than just me to aid you in this which is why I think he will be a better person to aid you in this endeavor." he said causing Naruto to frown.

"He?"

"_He means me, my boy."_

.._**!**_

_'What the hell?!'_ reflexes took hold over his own caution and he re-summoned Yamato and began to draw it as he swerved around to attack the person behind him.

_Ting~!_

"_Now now, we shall have none of that. I am only here to help you, Naruto."_

Naruto heard the voice of an older man, but he was too amazed at what he had just seen. Before he could follow up on his instinct a ethereal hand latched itself on the pommel of Yamato stopping Naruto from drawing the katana from it's sheathe. The movement had been so quick, so _fast_ that he hadn't even noticed it happen until it was too late. Soon his eyes finally registered the hand and followed it up to the arm and to the face of the person who had stopped him.

The man he saw was dressed in robes similar to that of Asura though they seemed more prominent, . He was a tall man and was rather pale-skinned, but his flesh seemed so sunken that he seemed more like a corpse than anything else. His hair was a rusty red mess of spikes that fell to his shoulder-blades. On his left side he had a braid of his hair going down the side of his face up until it reached his chin. He also sported a goatee similar to old man Hiruzen's, but this goatee was ridiculously long. Like the damn thing tapered down to the mans waist and then some. He had purple eyes that had a six ringed ripple pattern over the eyes. He also had another eye, as strange as that was, on his forehead that was like his other eyes, but it was red and had 9 toma overlapping the ripple patterns.

...Oh he also had two horn protrusions sticking out from his forehead.

The old man smiled, his very wrinkled visage crinkling in a simmered delight as he looked upon the blonde with nigh, but a sense of both contentment and pride.

"It's good to finally meet you Naruto. No doubt my son here has already mentioned me, but let me properly introduce myself, my name is Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo or as the rest the world knows me as, the _Rikudō Sennin._"

…

...

Naruto could only speak the words that appeared at the forefront of his mind when he saw the man who stopped him.

"Man you're old, like really really _really old, _tte'bayo_."_

At that moment two things happened.

Asura's expression cracked before he broke out laughing in hysterics.

Hagoromo's expression cracked ever so slightly, allowing a slight grin to spread across his face.

"Humorous, but nonetheless expected of you. Now I believe we have matters to discuss, one of which being the **Reforging of your Soul**, yes?" he asked, but the way he said quickly silenced Asura's chuckles and Naruto instinctively straightened at the tone used, but he didn't shy away from the gaze.

No he _matched_ Hagoromo's stare with one of equal intensity and fervor.

"You are correct."

At this Hagoromo nodded his head before he reached out with his hand and in a swirl of black a shakujo battle staff formed. Then with a slight tap on the "ground" or "floor" a ripple effect occurred within the realm.

"Very well, let us begin."

* * *

**Done.**

**Long chapter. Think of it as a early Christmas present for you all. And yes it is the same Yamato from Devil May Cry, the 4th one to be exact.**

**Now I wanted to go more in-depth with what was going on so I did. Hopefully you enjoyed it, if not then too bad.**

**If you have any questions send me a PM or in a review and I'll get to it when I have the time.**

**Also I'm thinking of, in the very distant future, of making a Final Fantasy XV crossover with RWBY. Just an idea I'm playing with, but nothing I'll work on until this story is done, but what your opinions on this? Let me know.**

**Until then,**

**Ja'ne.**


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